Defining Unemployment and Two Reasons for It

On this page, we will help you answer the following 2025 Grade 12 Life Orientation source-based task for term 1 “Defining Unemployment and Two Reasons for It”.

Define the term unemployment and state two reasons for it

Unemployment can be defined in many ways, but because this is for Life Orientation Grade 12, we need to stick to the correct definition which is in the textbook.

Grade 12 Life Orientation definition of unemployment:

Unemployment is being without a job, or joblessness.

Latest stats on unemployment in SA: South Africa’s unemployment rate dropped to 31.9% in Q4 2024, the lowest since Q3 2023. Employment increased by 132,000, while unemployed individuals fell by 20,000 to 7.991 million.

Two Reasons for Unemployment in South Africa

Reasons for Unemployment

There are more than two reasons for unemployment in South Africa. On this section, you will find the complete list of reasons for unemployment according to Life Orientation Grade 12 textbook, term 1 work.

You can choose any two reasons for unemployment in /South Africa from below:

• A mismatch between skills and job opportunities; there are no jobs for people with certain skills, or there are jobs but not people with the skills to do them
• Corruption, which leads to ‘jobs for friends’ at overly high salaries and takes away jobs from the poor or better-qualified
• Difficult for first-time or new entrants to enter the labour market; people with experience are preferred
• Distance from workplace to home due to the apartheid-era Group Areas Act that displaced people
• Downturn in the economy (recession) where fewer jobs are created and businesses close down
• Firms going out of business and retrenching workers
• Graduates’ belief in how much they are worth in the job market may lead them to ignore lower-paying jobs, which may be the only jobs available
• Having qualifications and a career path that do not match your interests and ability
• High costs of employment, so firms hire fewer people who do more work
• Jobseekers become discouraged and give up trying
• Lack of education and skills
• Lack of entrepreneurship opportunities
• Lack of job search skills and information
• Fewer opportunities due to a cycle of unemployment – the longer you are unemployed, the more difficult it is to become employed
• Mechanisation and computers reduce the number of people needed for jobs
• More demand than supply; meaning there are more job applicants than jobs available
• Overpopulation
• Poverty and powerlessness mean that people have fewer opportunities to become employed
• Scarcity of the kind of jobs people want
• Shortage of skilled labour lessens the opportunities for less skilled labour
• Worldwide recession or downturn in the economy, which reduces business growth