The Citizen writes that SA’s unemployment rate ticked higher in the last quarter of 2023 to 32.1% after half of South African industries recorded job losses.
This indicated yet again that the country’s economy is in deep trouble. The latest data from Statistics SA showed that the official unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points from 31.9% in the third quarter to 32.1% in the fourth quarter. The number of employed people fell by 22,000 compared to the third quarter to reach 16.7 million. The formal sector shed 128,000 jobs in the fourth quarter, followed by agriculture that shed 35,000, while the informal sector added 124,000 jobs and private households 18,000. Economist Jee-A van der Linde said the modest increase in private household employment suggested that households were taking strain as the high interest rate environment, together with elevated price inflation, stretched disposable incomes. “South Africa’s unemployment rate is moving in the wrong direction ahead of the upcoming elections, while mining companies’ retrenchment announcements in the first quarter of 2024 forecasts even more despair,” Van der Linde pointed out. Nedbank economists Johannes Khosa and Nicky Weimar noted that a decline in job creation drove the unemployment rate higher in the final quarter of 2023 after two consecutive quarters of decline. “The increase was driven by lower employment and a larger labour force. Concerningly, but not surprisingly, the job losses were driven by the formal sector, which shed 124,000 jobs, offsetting the 124,000 jobs created in the informal sector during the quarter.” However, they found it encouraging that the number of discouraged workers declined by a further 107,000, as less severe power disruptions and lower transport costs likely enabled more individuals to actively seek employment.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ina Opperman at The Citizen
- Read too, SA’s jobless rate jumps to 32.1% in fourth quarter, at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- And also, Almost 8 million people now unemployed as jobless rate rises, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page