Jobless doesn’t necessarily mean lazy
As unemployment soars in the country, it's becoming harder and harder to put food on the table.
Some 8.4 million South Africans are jobless, according to Statistics South Africa’s quarterly labour force survey released last month.
It’s a scary statistic and a figure that is hard to get your mind around.
Youth aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 years continue to have the highest unemployment rates, at 60.8% and 41.7% respectively.
KZN is one of three provinces that recorded the largest decrease in employment.
Unemployed Chris Nel (39) of Margate currently finds life is a daily struggle.
He walks the streets, knocking on the doors of businesses in search of any kind of permanent work.
This is despite having recently qualified as a security guard.
As a result, Chris battles with decreased self-esteem and feels anxious about what the future holds.
To add salt to his wounds, his mother, Sophia, says her son, like so many other decent jobseekers, also faces being unnecessarily judged just because they can’t find jobs.
“There are many decent, jobless people on the South Coast who are looking for work, but no one is willing to give them a chance, and there appears to be a stigma that goes with being unemployed,” she said.
Sophia says people pass unfair comments and have called her son a ‘loafer’ as he is always on the streets.
“How else is Chris going to look for work without ‘being in the streets’? Must he sit at home and pray to the heavens and hope something falls out from the sky? When there are jobs available online, or they want them to apply online, he sends his CV in. If not, he walks the streets and hands his CV in where they allow it. Some businesses tell him straight they don’t have jobs, or they can’t take his CV, and he must come back after a month or so,” she said.
Sophia said she is not asking for sympathy or for hand-outs but wants people to stop judging Chris and others unnecessarily.
“How do I show these judgemental people what kind of person my son is? How loyal, hard-working, eager and willing he is to find a job? How honest and reliable he is? They are judging him, but they don’t know him, so no one wants to give him a chance,” she said.
Chris said he is really willing to do any job there that is available, even if he has to wash floors every day.
“It doesn’t matter what job it is. I just want to work so I know my family has enough money to put food on the table,” he said.
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