
Chapter 09 · The lived market
Youth idleness, retrenchment, and the wage that follows
Behind the pipeline metrics sit the human realities: forty percent of fifteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds are neither in employment, education nor training. This chapter maps that ground.
NEET rate (15-24)
0%
NEET count
0m
Expanded unemploy.
0%
Avg months job-seeking
0
By province
Where idleness concentrates
Gauteng
15-2433.5%
730k people
Discouraged
210k
Job-seeking
12.1m
Western Cape
15-2429.6%
302k people
Discouraged
82k
Job-seeking
10.4m
KwaZulu-Natal
15-2442.8%
718k people
Discouraged
220k
Job-seeking
15.8m
Eastern Cape
15-2451.6%
588k people
Discouraged
204k
Job-seeking
18.2m
Limpopo
15-2452.0%
510k people
Discouraged
192k
Job-seeking
19.8m
Mpumalanga
15-2447.8%
344k people
Discouraged
148k
Job-seeking
16.4m
North West
15-2449.7%
308k people
Discouraged
124k
Job-seeking
17.2m
Free State
15-2447.0%
216k people
Discouraged
96k
Job-seeking
16.1m
Northern Cape
15-2446.7%
112k people
Discouraged
46k
Job-seeking
16.8m
By demographic
Age and gender splits (national)
| Age | Gender | Population (k) | NEET (k) | NEET rate | Narrow U% | Expanded U% | Matric % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-24 | Male | 5 520 | 2 130 | 38.6% | 41.5% | 56.8% | 55% |
| 15-24 | Female | 5 320 | 2 280 | 42.9% | 46.2% | 62.8% | 53% |
| 25-34 | All | 10 280 | 5 270 | 51.3% | 45.1% | 58.0% | 58% |