JOHANNESBURG, November 22 (ANA) – At least 15,000 domestic workers employed in private households lost their jobs between July and September this year, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said on Tuesday.
StatsSA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed that the unemployment rate had increased to 27.1 percent in the third quarter, up from 26.6 percent in the last quarter, though jobs were created between the third and the fourth quarter.
This is the highest unemployment rate recorded in South Africa since 2003 .
StatsSA said though the number of employed people increased by 288,000, the growth in employment was offset by an increase in unemployment of 239,000, resulting in a rise of 0.5 of a percentage point in the unemployment rate.
Discouraged work-seekers accounted for two thirds of the increase among the not economically active population.
On a quarterly basis, StatsSA said employment only increased in the formal and informal sectors, as well as in agriculture.
– African News Agency (ANA)
