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By Dylan Bettencourt
- New data from Stats SA shows that having a degree or matric certificate does not protect you from being poor.
- A failing job market means millions of young graduates are left sitting at home without being able to find work.
Getting a good education used to be the best way out of poverty. But new numbers show this is no longer true. South Africans with degrees and matric certificates are now falling into poverty.
Stats SA shared these worrying numbers. Patricia Koka, who leads poverty statistics at Stats SA, said poverty has dropped for most people.
“What we are observing is that poverty has continued to decline across all educational levels, except for a slight increase among those with higher education,” Koka said.
In 2015, only 6% of people with higher education were poor. By 2023, this number jumped to 7.4%.
Across the country, over 23-million South Africans live on less than R1,300 a month. Black people make up 93.6% of these poor people, while women make up 53.6%.
In Gauteng, poverty went up slightly to 26.5% over eight years. Big families with more than six people also suffer the most.
Children and young people under 24 years old struggle daily. Finding a job is very hard for them.
Desiree Manamela, who leads labour statistics, said the job market is failing young people who studied hard. She said official unemployment numbers do not tell the whole story because many people have simply given up looking for work.
Official numbers show that 7.8-million people were jobless at the end of 2025. But this number jumps to 42.1% when counting those who gave up.
Even for people aged between 25 and 34, less than half have jobs. This leaves many young graduates stuck at home. They cannot use their qualifications to find a job and escape poverty.
Pictured above: Graduates.
Image source: Pexels
