Tembisa residents protest against unemployment.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced on Tuesday that the country’s unemployment rate rose by 0.3 of a percentage point to 27.5% in the third quarter of 2018.
During its briefing on the release of its quarterly labour force survey, the agency said of the 34 million South Africans who are of working age, 16.4 million are employed, with 6.2 million who are unemployed and 15.4 million who are not economically active.
Stats SA said the labour force participation rate increased by 0.4 of a percentage point from 59.2% in the third quarter of 2008 to 59.5% in the third quarter of 2018.
“The unemployment rate for those aged 25-34 is 52.8%, double that of those aged 45-54 years. The youth unemployment rate is higher than other age groups irrespective of education level,” the agency said.
It said that approximately 3.2 million (31.1%) out of 10.3 million young people aged 15-24 years were not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
“The overall NEET rate increased by 0.8 of a percentage point in the third quarter of 2018 compared to the third quarter of 2017,” Stats SA said.
The agency said the finance (102,000), trade (86,000), and construction (27,000) industries recorded growth in employment.
It said that industries that recorded the biggest loss in employment in the third quarter of 2018 were private households (30,000), mining (29,000), and manufacturing (25,000).
“Close to a third (29.3%) of all people employed in the third quarter of 2018 were employed in elementary and domestic work occupations,” Stats SA said.
The agency said five out of the country’s nine provinces showed decreases in their unemployment rate between the second quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2018. These are Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northern Cape, Western Cape, and Limpopo.
Free State and Eastern Cape were the only provinces that recorded employment losses.
(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)
– additional reporting, ANA
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