Unemployment hits highest level in more than 11 years

South Africa’s unemployment rate has worsened to 29.1%, the highest level in more than 11 years.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke on Tuesday announced the findings of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2019, at a briefing in Pretoria.

The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter to 29.1%. “This is the highest since the first quarter of 2008,” Maluke said.

In the last 10 years the unemployment rate increased by 4.6 percentage points. In the last five years the unemployment rate rose by 3.7 percentage points and in the past year, unemployment rose by 1.5 percentage points.

Numerically, the working population is comprised of 38.6 million people. A total of 23.1 million are active in the labour force, while 6.7 million are unemployed and 15.5 million are not economically active.

Over the past quarter, the number of unemployment people grew by 78 000, while those in employment grew by only 62 000 people. The number of discouraged workers increased by 44 000 during the quarter.

NEWS24