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Unemployment in South Africa has risen dramatically over the past decade, and the 2001 census placed South Africa's unemployment rate at 41.6 percent of its total population. Many South Africans see unemployment as the most pressing problem facing their nation today.
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Employment in South Africa dramatically reflects the nation's history of racial bias. While 50 percent of South Africa's blacks are unemployed, the number is only six percent among its white population. Among those that are working, only eight percent of blacks are in top management positions though they make up roughly 60 percent of the South African workforce. Women are also subject to discrimination in the South African workplace, as is evidenced by the fact that they occupy only 12 percent of all top management positions in the country.
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South Africa's endorsement of a strong labor community may have contributed to its burgeoning unemployment rate. Union membership has steadily increased in South Africa since the end of apartheid. Powerful unions and the pressure for better wages have encouraged some South African businesses to pursue capital-intensive models of growth rather than relying on South African labor. The scarcity of new jobs combined with South Africa's growing population has helped push South Africa's unemployment rate steadily higher.
Though the South African economy has experienced modest growth in recent years, high inflation and fluctuations in the value of the rand have caused difficulty in some domestic industries and made investing in South African enterprises seem a risky venture to some in the international business community. Nonetheless, the South African economy will need to expand if it is to achieve the annual growth rate of five percent that some analysts feel is necessary to reduce current unemployment levels. The South African economy grew by 3 percent in 2002, a better than expected performance.
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