The Free Market Foundation (FMF) has called for sweeping labour law exemptions to help millions of South Africans shut out of the job market.

Launching a new policy report on Tuesday, the Johannesburg-based think tank proposed a Job Seekers Exemption Certificate (JSEC) that would allow anyone unemployed for six months or longer to opt out of key labour laws for a period of 24 months.

The proposal comes as Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed unemployment easing slightly to 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025, but still leaving 11.4 million people without work. FMF Policy Officer Zakhele Mthembu, who authored the report, said existing labour rules had become: “weapons of exclusion” that priced low-skilled South Africans out of jobs. “The result is not protection but mass destitution dressed up as fairness,” he wrote.

Under the JSEC, municipalities would issue free, instantly revocable certificates allowing job seekers to suspend minimum wage laws, dismissal procedures, and equity targets.

The FMF argues that this would channel work opportunities to small firms and households, where most job creation takes place.

FMF Head of Policy Martin van Staden described the plan as: “a voluntary, constitutional mechanism that trusts South Africans to negotiate their own salvation instead of begging politicians for jobs that will never come.” He said youth joblessness, now above 60% among those aged 15 to 24, demanded bold, market-based reforms.