BL Premium reports that SA’s official unemployment rate, which reached a record 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021, is likely to worsen once the impact of the unrest that swept across parts of the country in July is reflected in future data.

The record jobless rate may also widen further when SA’s more than 3.3-million discouraged job seekers, who are not counted in the official rate as they are not actively looking for work, start to return to the labour market as the economy opens up in response to an easing of the third wave of Covid-19 infections. Stats SA’s latest quarterly labour force survey (QLFS), released on Tuesday, showed the number of employed people fell by 54,000 in the second quarter to 14.9-million, while the number of unemployed jumped by 584,000 to 7.8-million. The effect of those movements pushed the official unemployment rate to the worst level since the survey was introduced in 2008. Bloomberg said it was the highest among the 82 countries it tracked. Three of the 10 industries monitored by the QLFS showed declines in the number of employed people, with the biggest declines in finance (278,000); community and social services (166,000); and manufacturing (83,000). The largest increases in employment were in construction (143,000) and trade (108,000). The loss of jobs in the financial sector was probably a symptom of Covid-19, which has accelerated digitization as customers become more accustomed to electronic interaction.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Garth Theunissen at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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