The national unemployment rate in the USA is at 3.4%. Depending on who you ask and what population you’re talking about, South Africa’s unemployment rate varies between 33% and 60% — most agree the unemployment rate is higher than the employment rate. More South Africans are not working than working, giving South Africa the highest unemployment rate in the world. That’s quite an achievement when you consider the nearby workers’ paradises of Angola, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
When Covid-19 hit, the government ordered a lockdown — only trips for food and medicine; not even dog walking was allowed. To offset the income loss, legal residents are eligible for Social Grants, payments of 350 Rands (almost $21) per month. This amount is less than a living wage for an individual. So, what do the unemployed South Africans do? They join the informal economy to survive.
The most enterprising South Africans become self-employed. We go to local markets to support these craftspeople. There’s pottery, beaded birds, beaded jewelry, self-standing food protection nets, screen-printed T-shirts, straw mats, wire baskets, and more.
The next tier of entrepreneurs are resellers. Often these take on the atmosphere of a flea market where vendors sell tourist kitsch. The goods look to be mass-produced in factories — Africa-themed clothing, wood bowls, straw baskets – and haggling is expected. We’ve seen the same vendors selling the same items in the same places for several years.
Then there’s another tier of sellers who stake out an area in front of a shop or a street corner. We’ve bought London-cloth aprons from a craftswoman in front of shop we visit and we’ve bought hand-made wire-and-bead cards from a craftsman on the corner near and a couple of busy restaurants.
Some vendors walk the streets carrying something they hope to profit from. One fellow tried to sell us packs of toothpicks (?). We ran across an artist selling
linoleum-block prints in “vibrant” magenta and orange colours (hey, that’s how they spell it here!). Perfect for tourists or the décor-challenged.
Not to be outdone, there are sellers in the streets at traffic lights. By necessity, these are goods that must be carried. These life-riskers walk between cars and sell grapes, avocados, paper towels, rolls of plastic bags — whatever they can get their hands on. We rarely see anyone anywhere buy any of those things.
But what if you don’t have a craft or can’t afford to buy and resell stock? Why, you help people park. These “parking wardens” often have an official-looking reflective vest, and they guide drivers into and out of the spaces they claim to manage. There’s a social compact that although the spaces are public and the wardens are just people who happen to hover over them, a small payment is made when you pull away.
These are resilient folks, but resiliency only goes so far. And they are only a small segment of the unemployed. At the height of the Great Depression, U.S. unemployment was 25%. Here, it’s one-third higher, with no end in sight. An economist would be staggered by the loss of productivity with more than half the nation’s workforce idle.
The local Methodists are trying to start a pilot program in a rural area for the locals to raise chickens for eggs to eat and sell. The Anglicans in False Bay are putting together an employment database to link employers and job-seekers. These efforts are small first steps in a long journey for South Africa.
