BusinessLive reports that Statistics SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey released on Thursday showed unemployment in SA to be at its highest level since September 2003.  

The unemployment rate of 27.7% in the first quarter was up 1.2 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2016.  The youth unemployment rate rose by 1.6 percentage points to 38.6%, with 58% of unemployed people aged between 15 and 34.  The economy added 144,000 jobs during the quarter, but this was offset by the number of job-seekers surging by 433,000 people.  Growth in employment was seen in all industries except agriculture, trade and services.  Employment was boosted by growth in the manufacturing sector, which added 62,000 jobs, and in the finance and other business services categories, which added 49,000 employees.  Mining added 26,000 jobs.  Unemployment increased and remained unchanged in all the provinces except the Northern Cape which decreased.

• Read this report by Sunita Menon in full at BusinessLive
• See too, SA’s unemployment hits highest since 2003, at Moneyweb

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page