‘We need functioning municipalities’: Economist on tackling unemployment

By Zanoxolo Jozana

Economist Professor Jannie Rossouw has attributed South Africa’s persistently high unemployment rate to sluggish economic growth, saying the economy is not expanding fast enough to create jobs and absorb new entrants into the labour market.

Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that the country’s unemployment rate increased marginally to 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, from 33.6% in the previous quarter.

Speaking to Elvis Presslin, Rossouw, an economist and professor at Wits Business School, said accelerating economic growth was essential to creating jobs and reducing unemployment.

He said businesses needed an environment that allowed them to expand their operations and employ more people, but warned that this would also require government to address obstacles to investment, particularly at municipal level.

Rossouw said municipalities had a critical role to play in creating conditions conducive to investment by ensuring the reliable delivery of basic