The employed deserve the spotlight, too!

Ntombizamasala Hlophe from Momentum Corporate challenges South African employers to start valuing workers, not just work.

Every quarter, headlines trumpet the latest unemployment stats – rising, falling, stagnating. And rightly so. In South Africa, where 31.9% of the population is officially unemployed and the expanded rate languishes at 41.9%, the scale of the jobs crisis is impossible to ignore.

But in our national obsession with the unemployment rate, we’ve lost sight of something equally important: the employed.

 The 17.1 million South Africans who do have jobs – who wake up every day, show up, and keep our country running – are too often invisible. They are the hands that keep factory machines humming, financial systems ticking, patients cared for, and goods moving from farms to stores to homes. These are not just employment stats on a spreadsheet. They are people. Parents. Partners. Providers. 

This Worker’s Day, it’s time to shine a light on them. 

The weight the employed carry

Let’s be clear – South Africa’s employment crisis deserves every ounce of attention it gets. But we must also recognise that it is the employed who carry the weight of economic survival in this country – not just for themselves, but for their families, their communities, and often extended networks of support.

In many households, one job supports multiple dependents. That’s a heavy responsibility for one person to shoulder, especially in an environment where real wages are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living, and where job security can feel like a luxury. 

If we fail to invest in and protect these workers – their wellbeing, their financial resilience, their growth – we risk weakening the very backbone of our economy. 

Not just jobs but journeys

At Momentum Corporate, we’re shifting the conversation. It’s not enough to count jobs. We must also grow them. That means supporting the personal and professional journeys of the people behind them. 

We need to stop seeing workers as just employed and start seeing them as empowered. How do we do this? Well, it starts with creating workplaces that invest in the trifecta of employee wellbeing – emotional, physical, and financial. It means recognising that resilience isn’t something workers should summon on their own, but something employers must help build through tools, support, and culture.

True authentic care for our employees is a key driver and what sets the business apart. Worker’s Day should be a time to reflect on how a business can empower and equip employees with the right experience and exposure to do more than just cope, but to flourish and become the best versions of themselves. 

Building a stronger workforce, and a stronger nation

The pandemic taught us how fragile, and how powerful, the workforce can be. When offices shut down, it was the everyday worker, backed by forward-thinking employers, who ensured continuity, connection and care. 

Now, as we shape the future of work, our task is not to return to business as usual. It’s to design a new normal that recognises, rewards, and respects the contribution of workers. One where their health, goals and aspirations are valued, and where their development is not an afterthought but a national imperative.

Because growing employment isn’t just about lowering the unemployment rate. It’s about lifting up the employed – the very people keeping South Africa on its feet. 

This Worker’s Day, let’s take a moment to celebrate the hands that build our country. From factory lines to finance floors, from health workers to hospitality staff – we honour our economic heroes. Let’s honour them not just with applause, but with action: policies that protect them, benefits that uplift them, and workplaces that see them.