Unemployment rises to 26.7% as SA loses 355‚000 jobs

SA’s unemployment accelerated sharply in the first three months of this year to 26.7% from 24.5% in the fourth quarter of last year‚ Statistics SA data showed on Monday.

This indicates that 5.7-million people who are actively looking for jobs are unable to find any‚ as opposed to 5.2-million people in the fourth quarter of last year.

The economy is shedding jobs as companies struggle to operate in the low growth environment while more people are entering the labour market to look for jobs. This‚ along with the fact that more people became of working age and started looking for jobs contributed to a higher unemployment rate.

SA’s working age is 15 years to 64 years. The working-age population increased by 159‚000 to 36.4-million between the two quarters.

The formal and informal sectors‚ and private households (such as domestic work) shed jobs in the first quarter. The agriculture sector‚ however‚ experienced an increase in employment.

“Following employment gains in seven consecutive quarters‚ second quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015‚ the number of employed people decreased by 355‚000 in the first quarter of 2016‚” Statistics SA said. “The decrease in the first quarter of 2016 is the largest decrease since 2010.”

Between the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year‚ the number of employed people in the formal sector decreased in six industries. The largest decreases were observed in construction‚ manufacturing‚ and trade. The trade sector has seasonal employment and the drop in the first quarter could reflect the end of seasonal jobs created in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

The community and social services sector (usually public service jobs) and transport sector created jobs during the first quarter.