Statistics South Africa says the unemployment rate increased by 1.4 percentage points from 27.6% in the first quarter of this year to 29% in the second quarter of 2019.
This is reportedly the highest second-quarter jobless rate since 2008.
According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey(QLFS) released today, there are 6.7 million unemployed people in South Africa between the ages of 15 and 64 years.
Other findings:
The working-age population increased by 150 000 in Q2:2019 compared to Q1:2019.
Discouraged work-seekers decreased by 248 000 and the other not economically active population by 77 000 resulting in the net decrease of 326 000 in the number of those who were not economically active.
An increase of 21 000 in the number of people in employment in the second quarter of 2019 was mainly driven by:
Losses:
The Eastern Cape recorded has the highest unemployment rate ( 35,4%) while the North West recorded the highest expanded unemployment rate (46,6%). Q2:2019
