BusinessLive reports that SA’s unemployment rate worsened to 27.2% in the second quarter, from 26.7% in the first quarter, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday in its quarterly labour force survey.
Manufacturing lost 105,000 jobs; community, social and personal services lost 93,000; and trade lost 57,000 jobs. On the plus side, transport added 54,000 jobs, construction added 45,000 and mining added 38,000. The expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged work seekers, increased by 0.5 percentage points to 37.2%. The number of discouraged work seekers increased to 2.9-million people during this period while the working-age population increased by 154,000 people. The Free State suffered the largest increase in its unemployment rate, which grew by 1.6 percentage points. The Eastern Cape had the highest unemployment rate, at 45.8%. Youth employment, however, declined slightly — by 0.6 of a percentage point — to 31.6%. This bracket covers to people between the ages of 15 and 24. Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said last week that the current growth trajectory remained too low to tackle SA’s unemployment levels.
- Read this report by Sunita Menon in full at BusinessLive
- Read too, Shock rise in SA unemployment as manufacturing bleeds jobs, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page