The unemployment rate in the country has increased by 7.5% to 30.8% in the third quarter of the year which fell under the COVID-19 national lockdown.
Stats SA released its Quarterly Labour Force Survey earlier on Wednesday and said it’s the highest unemployment rate recorded since the start of the Survey in 2008.
The number of unemployed people increased by 2.2 million to 6.5 million compared to the second quarter of the year.
The Eastern Cape recorded the highest official and expanded unemployed rate in the country, shooting up from 36.9% in the 2nd quarter to 45.8% in the 3rd quarter.
The expanded unemployment figure at 51.2% is slightly down from 52.8% last quarter.
DA Leader in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature Bobby Stevenson said year on year the province had lost over a 190 000 jobs
Stevenson said in a statement that even more devastating is how unemployment is impacting the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, with the unemployment rate at a staggering 51.3% for the 3rd quarter, and the expanded unemployment rate at 58.2%.
