INTERVIEW WITH PROF LINDA MEYER- GRADUATE SEASON: QUALIFIED BUT LOCKED OUT INBOX

Annie Hodes

As South Africa enters graduate season, thousands of newly qualified young people are stepping into a labour market that is far less receptive than it once was. While graduates may still hold an advantage over those with lower qualifications in a tough employment environment, they are increasingly feeling the impact of the country’s unemployment crisis. Graduate unemployment has almost doubled from 5.8% in 2008 to 10.3% today, weakening the degree’s value as a reliable pathway into stable work. The burden, moreover, falls unevenly — female, African, and younger graduates face the steepest climb. In a labour market shaped by structural constraints, and with the workplace evolving far faster than academic systems are adapting, years of study, sacrifice, and ambition are no longer guaranteed to translate into meaningful employment.

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Qualified, but locked out

South Africa is producing an increasing number of graduates, yet the economy is failing to absorb them, exposing a widening gap between qualifications and opportunity.

From now until the end of June, some 220,758 students will graduate from universities and 60,927  from private tertiary institutions. For many, this milestone marks the end of an arduous journey in which families have invested time, hope, and hard-earned money to see the first in their family reach the graduate finish line.

Yet the celebration is often short-lived, quickly overtaken by a formidable hurdle: the South African job market. Although the fourth quarter of 2025 recorded a marginal decline in unemployment, the labour market remains constrained by deep structural barriers. Millions of young South Africans, including graduates, remain excluded from meaningful employment.

A tarnished golden ticket

A degree still offers a measure of protection. Graduate unemployment, at 10.3%, remains significantly lower than the national rate of 31.4% for Q4: 2025. But that figure has nearly doubled since 2008, when it stood at 5.8%,  and the trajectory is telling.

“Graduates are facing stiffer competition, longer job searches and a sobering reality that the qualification that once served as a near-guaranteed route into stable, well-paid work no longer carries that promise,” says Prof. Linda Meyer, MD at IIE Rosebank College.  In a slow-growing economy unable to generate jobs quickly enough to absorb an expanding pool of graduates, the golden ticket has lost much of its shine.

The education divide remains stark

Education remains one of the most decisive factors shaping employment prospects for South African youth. Those without a matric qualification face the steepest climb, with an unemployment rate of 37.6%. For those who complete matric, the figure improves only marginally to 33.7%.

The picture improves more noticeably for those with vocational or technical training, with unemployment falling to 20.1%. The clearest advantage, however, is seen among university graduates, whose unemployment risk is 73% lower than that of young people without a matric.

“These figures clearly show that higher education still matters. It remains one of the strongest protections against unemployment in a difficult labour market. However, its role is changing. A degree is becoming less a single ticket to a stable career and more a foundation for adaptability, continued learning, and movement in a changing world of work,” says Prof. Meyer.

Qualified but unemployed

At the heart of the crisis is a mismatch that is both structural and growing: South Africa is producing more graduates than its economy knows how to absorb. The challenge is being shaped both by a shrinking pool of opportunities and by changing expectations around entry-level work. Across sectors, employers increasingly want practical competence, digital fluency, adaptability, critical thinking, and the ability to contribute from the outset.

In this environment, a qualification still carries value, but it is no longer enough on its own. For many graduates, that creates a frustrating paradox: they do what they have been told is necessary – study, qualify and strengthen their credentials – only to face long job searches, repeated rejection, silence after applications, short-term contracts or unpaid internships that do not lead to stable work. The result is a labour market in which the gap between academic preparation and workplace readiness remains stark, allowing skills shortages and high unemployment to coexist.

A workplace shaped by AI

Graduates are entering a world of work in which technology is reshaping both the jobs available and the skills needed to secure them. Alongside fierce competition for limited roles, new entrants must now adapt to a labour market being rapidly transformed by artificial intelligence. AI literacy is no longer a niche advantage. It is fast becoming the baseline against which candidates are measured.

“Historically, AI skills were concentrated among developers and data specialists. But the mainstream arrival of generative AI has moved these tools into the daily operations of finance, manufacturing, marketing, logistics, and sales. Employers are no longer looking only for technical specialists. They are also seeking candidates who can use AI effectively in everyday workflows,” says Prof. Meyer.

Many South African graduates, however, enter the market underprepared. Academic curricula and training systems are struggling to keep pace with the rate of change, creating a fluency gap with real consequences for employability. The result is a generation whose qualifications may be sound, but whose digital readiness lags what employers increasingly regard as standard.

The Pnet Job Market Trends Report for March 2026 highlights the scale of this shift. AI skills have moved from specialist silos into cross-functional, industry-wide use, exposing a growing vulnerability in the workforce. Today, even a strong qualification can be undermined by a single, telling absence: digital fluency.

Why this matters

Graduation remains a major personal and family achievement, especially in a country where the path to higher education is rarely straightforward and never cheap. Yet in South Africa, that moment of triumph is increasingly followed by a difficult and uncertain transition into the labour market. The consequences reach far beyond the graduate alone. Families that have sacrificed to fund higher education often remain under financial strain. At the same time, young people are left unable to translate academic achievement into the economic mobility they had hoped for.

The country, in turn, fails to make full use of the skills and potential it has invested in developing. Although a qualification still improves a young person’s prospects, it no longer guarantees stable work. For higher education to remain a genuine pathway to opportunity, it must be backed by stronger links to the workplace, practical and digital skills development, and an economy capable of absorbing the talent it produces.

Supplied: Annie Hodes writes in her full capacity