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BL Premium reports that SA’s latest unemployment rate surprised, falling to its lowest since the first quarter of 2021.
But even though SA created a record 1.48-million jobs over the past year – 81% in the formal sector of the economy – the employment numbers are still not back at their level before the Covid-19 pandemic. Even with the significant year-on-year improvement, the SA labour market is still 615,000 jobs below the peak employment level last seen in quarter four of 2018. Moreover, the fall in the unemployment rate is not in congruence with the country’s growth patterns, as increases in formal employment suggest the economy should be booming but GDP growth forecasts have been revised systematically lower in recent months. The Reserve Bank has over the past three meetings of the monetary policy committee changed its risk assessment of SA’s economic growth by more negative, downwardly revising GDP growth to 1.8%. Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings commented that despite the reported job gains over the past year, it seemed clear that the SA economy has failed to keep pace with the growth in the population over an extended period and that the Covid-19 pandemic aggravated an already desperate situation. Nedbank economist Johannes Khosa said even though the decline in the unemployment rate in such a challenging macroeconomic environment was encouraging, the outlook for the job market remained uncertain.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thuletho Zwane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page