In Q3 2016, unemployment is South Africa soared 1.6% compared to the same period in 2015, standing at 27.1% of active population, the country’s highest level since 2003, data released on Nov 22 by the national statistics office (StatsSA) shows.

At the end of September 2016, out of the 8.1 million jobless South Africans, 5.9 million were actively seeking jobs while 2.2 million of them were considered “discouraged assets”, which is a term that regroups unemployed people who stopped seeking for jobs, StatsSA said. People from 15 to 24 are the most unemployed in the country. They represent 54.2% of the unemployed active population.

An employment market study conducted every three months by StatsSA also showed that White locals had more chance of getting a job than Black people, due to their average level of education. Truly, 30.5% of Black people are jobless against 7% of White people only.

Unemployment’s rise in the third quarter of 2016 is mainly due to job cuts in the mining, manufacturing and services sectors.

After recording a 5% growth rate between 2004 and 2007, South Africa’s economy has been slugging for some years now, amid price drop of commodities and multiple social movements in strategic sectors such as mining and industry. Africa’s most industrialized nation also suffered a severe drought, the worst of the century, and the slowdown of China’s growth.

Government’s recent forecasts suggest that SA’s economy will not grow more than 0.5% this year.