Unemployment down by 0.2 percentage points in last quarter

Despite the country experiencing extreme load shedding woes, around 169 000 jobs were added between the third and fourth quarter of 2022, bringing the total number of employed people to 15.9 million.

On the flip side of that hard-earned coin, however, the number of unemployed persons increased by 28 000 to 7,8 million.

This, according to the most recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey results released for the last quarter of 2022, by Stats SA.

According to the report, the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 95 000 to 13,4 million, and the discouraged work-seekers decreased by 151 000 in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter resulting in a net decrease of 57 000 in the not economically active population.

In this context, “discouraged work-seekers” refer to people who are not actively seeking employment because they believe that no jobs are available for them, or because they are unable to find work that matches their skills or qualifications.

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Join gains and losses

Meanwhile, these changes in employment and unemployment led to a slight decrease in the official unemployment rate from 32.9% in the third quarter of 2022, to 32.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, by 0.2 percentage points.

In the last quarter of 2022, the finance, private households, trade and transport industries saw the highest job gains, with a total of 252 000 jobs added.

On the other hand, the community and social services, agriculture, and construction industries experienced job losses, with a total of 146 000 jobs lost collectively.

Community and Social Services alone saw a massive loss of 122 000 jobs.

The formal sector saw an increase of 143 000 jobs, while the informal sector experienced a decrease of 15 000 jobs between the third and fourth quarters of 2022.

Compiled by Devina Haripersad