Unemployed graduates In the face of a youth unemployment crisis, 5 787 jobs for young people have been created in the global business services (GBS) sector, a catch-all phrase for outsourced services that support business operations across multiple locations or regions.
Image: Phill Magakoe AFP
In the face of a youth unemployment crisis, 5 787 jobs for young people have been created in the global business services (GBS) sector, a catch-all phrase for outsourced services that support business operations across multiple locations or regions.
People employed in this sector provide services in aspects such as finance, HR, IT, and customer service.
According to the October to December 2024 GBS Sector Job Creation Report by Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA), 6 290 new net jobs for international companies were recorded between October to December 2024, with 92% of these being for younger South Africans.
For the 2024 calendar year, the GBS industry created 20,518 jobs, having grown three-fold in just five years.
BPESA CEO, Reshni Singh, said that the “continued growth and job creation are a testament to our industry’s commitment to building careers for South Africans, especially our youth and those from marginalised communities”.
Around 10 million South Africans aged 15 to 24 encounter significant challenges when entering the workforce, with unemployment rates notably higher than those of older youth.
“For many young South Africans, landing a job is more than just a milestone, it is a crucial step toward economic independence and inclusion. Yet for millions, this first step remains out of reach,” Statistics South Africa said in a data print released mid-month.
Half of all citizens between 15 and 24 years of age were unemployed in 2015. Ten years later, this number has jumped to 62.4%, said Statistics South Africa in its research.
BPESA’s report showed that most of the jobs created as a result of expanding GBS activities into South Africa were in the Western Cape at 49.7%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape. Cape Town is South Africa’s business process outsourcing capital.
Statistics South Africa’s research showed that the situation regarding unemployed youngsters is worse in the North West and the Eastern Cape provinces, where “the plight of unemployed youth deepens into economic exclusion”.
In the first three months of 2025, the North West province recorded a youth unemployment rate of 58,8%, while only 43,0% of its young people aged 15 to 34 were active in the labour market. In the Eastern Cape, the picture is similarly serious, the agency said.
“With an unemployment rate of 54,3% and the lowest youth labour force participation rate nationally at 39,8%, fewer than four in ten young people are either employed or looking for work,” Statistics South Africa said of the situation in the Eastern Cape.
Singh noted that BPESA was in ongoing discussions with the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition around a revised incentives package for the industry and was “confident that with the right level of support the sector will drive further economic upliftment while showcasing South Africa’s distinctive flair in servicing international customers”.
The current GBS incentives include a rand-value grant per job over a five-year period and can be as much as R280 000 for every seat filled by an international company that relocates operations to South Africa.
The bulk of the jobs were created in the utilities and energy sector, followed by retail and eCommerce and then insurance, BPESA’s report showed.