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SA’s unemployment rate improved modestly to 34.5% in the first quarter of 2022

Details

Stats SAEngineering News reports that the official SA unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 of a percentage point to 34.5% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the unemployment rate of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The unemployment rate according to the expanded definition, which includes discouraged work-seekers, also decreased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 45.5% in the first quarter. On Tuesday, Statistics SA (Stats SA) statistician-general Risenga Maluleke shared the results of the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the quarter ended 31 March and highlighted that 370,000 jobs were gained between the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. The biggest job gains were recorded in community and social services (281,000), followed by manufacturing (263,000) and trade (98,000). The mining sector also managed to gain 36,000 jobs in the quarter under review. There were, however, job losses recorded from private households totaling 186,000 and finance totaling 72,000, while the construction and agriculture sectors also shed jobs to the extent of 60,000 and 23,000, respectively. The total number of people employed in SA was 14.9-million at the end of the first quarter, while the number of unemployed people decreased by 60,000 to 7.9-million. The number of discouraged work-seekers decreased by 54,000 and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 112,000, resulting in a net decrease of 166,000 non-economically active people. Maluleke reiterated that young people remained vulnerable in the labour market, despite a slight decrease in the number of unemployed youth in the first quarter.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
  • See too, SA’s jobless rate falls for first time since 2020, at BusinessLive
  • En ook, Werkloosheidskoers daal effens, by Maroela Media


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