JOHANNESBURG, October 31 (ANA) – The official unemployment rate has remained unchanged quarter-to-quarter at 27.7 percent for the third quarter of 2017, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
According to StatsSA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), this is still 0.6 of a percentage point higher compared to the same period last year.
Employment grew by 92,000 in third quartery of 2017, but was offset by an additional 33,000 job-seekers during the same period, resulting in a stable unemployment rate of 27.7 percent.
All other industries reported employment growth quarter-to-quarter except manufacturing, construction and agriculture which declined by 50,000, 30,000 and 25,000 respectively.
The largest decline in the unemployment rate was recorded in the Free State (down by 2.6 percentage points), Limpopo (down by 1.7 percentage points) and Mpumalanga (down by 1.6 percentage points).
The expanded unemployment rate which includes those who wanted to work but did not look for work increased by 0.2 of a percentage point in third quarter of 2017 to 36.8 percent.
StatsSA said that people with an education level of less than matric contributed 57.4 percent of the unemployed with unemployment rate of 32.6 percent.
The youth (aged 15-34) remained vulnerable in the labour market with an unemployment rate of 38.6 percent, which is 10.9 percentage points above the national average.
– African News Agency (ANA)
