PORT ELIZABETH - OVERALL UNEMPLOYMENT SPIRALS TO A STAGGERING 33% IN PE AREA

As elections on the 3rd of August draw near, most political parties are listing job creation as a priority. But experts in the Nelson Mandela Metro warn that this is going to be easier said than done.

This as the ranks of the unemployed in the municipality have swelled and unemployment currently sits at 33 %.

The latest statistics show that South Africa lost 355 000 jobs between the end of December 2015 and the end of March 2016.

In the Nelson Mandela Bay alone 20 000 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of the year.

Every street corner echoes this and finding a job when you have sunk this low becomes impossible.

Michelle Theron says she’s been out of work for months. "I can’t keep myself clean and I don’t have clothes so, I can’t get a job not looking like this."

Gareth Heyluck-Lyons says no one is prepared to give him the time or day. "People don’t seem to want to trust people on the street. They don't even want to give you the time of the day to help you in anyway, you wind up like this and I can’t seem to find work since I have wound up in this position."

The scenario looks unlikely to change. CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, Kevin Hustler says youth unemployment is at around 56%.

"In the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro we are taking a hammering with regards to unemployment. The latest figures released 33%, youth unemployment is at around 56%. If I look at the companies themselves a lot of them holding extremely tight right now and with regards to head count and employment. So, if politicians make promises, at the end of the day it's up to businesses to deliver the jobs."

Unsuccessful job applicants have turned to small scale entrepreneurship to put bread on the table.

Job seeker, Sinesipho Mananti says, "I was working for two years and my company closed down. I then had to go and look for part time jobs in order to keep food on the table. I have been applying for several jobs and there has been no response. It’s really frustrating.”

Mananti says election promises about jobs are nothing but hot air. "I don’t believe politicians because they make empty promises. They don’t fulfil every promise that they have make."

There is however a faint glimmer of hope in the metro with the R4.5 billion doubling of the VW plant and the R670 million Good Year expansion which will create a number of jobs.