UNEMPLOYMENT
becoming increasingly difficult to maintain,” he says. Degrees continue to accumulate faster than the demand for high skilled labour, creating what Sekhampu calls a“ deferred mobility” crisis. Graduate unemployment is often framed as a skills mismatch, but he argues that mismatches alone cannot explain persistent graduate unemployment in an economy where overall labour absorption remains weak. Degrees increasingly serve a positional function: they help individuals compete for limited professional roles, but do nothing to expand the number of such positions.
Adding to this complexity is a quieter but urgent threat: skills inflation. This occurs when job requirements rise faster than workers can keep up. Employees now need more skills just to remain employable in the same role, not necessarily to progress.
ManpowerGroup’ s 2026 study finds 72 % of employers worldwide struggling to hire the skills they need, with AI now at the top of the list. Nearly half of workers already use AI tools – a sharp rise in just one year – showing how quickly digital fluency has become essential.
South Africa is especially exposed. Despite millions of job seekers, companies still report shortages in software development, engineering, cybersecurity, and finance.‘ We don’ t lack people; we lack job‐ready skills,’ says Lyndy van den Barselaar, MD of ManpowerGroup South Africa.
According to Van den Barselaar, roles are shifting faster than job descriptions can keep up. Skills that were current two years ago may already be outdated. This“ skills inflation” erodes employability and competitiveness, slowing digital transformation and driving up recruitment costs.“ Skills inflation is the new economic pressure point, and if we don’ t address it now, we risk locking an entire generation out of the future economy,” Van den Barselaar warns.
South Africa’ s unemployment crisis demands a holistic response. Stronger growth, more investment, and better labour absorption are vital – but without practical pathways into relevant skills, talent remains trapped. Reform and united action are needed to unlock opportunity and turn potential into progress. �
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