Official unemployment rate decreases in the country

SA's official unemployment rate decreased by 1,0 percentage point at the end of September.

Unemployment dropped from 33,9% in the second quarter of 2022 to 32,9% in the third quarter of 2022. This is according to the Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey covering the third quarter of the year, which showed that 204,000 jobs were gained between the second quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2022.

The jobs were gained mainly in manufacturing.

“The number of unemployed persons decreased by 269,000 to 7,7-million and discouraged work-seekers also decreased by 54,000 to 3,5-million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter. The number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 264,000 between the two quarters, resulting in a net increase of 210,000 in the not economically active population,” the statement read.

During the period under review, there were 123,000 jobs created in manufacturing, 82,000 in trade, while construction created 46,000 and transport 33,000 jobs.

The largest losses were recorded across finance with 80,000 jobs lost, 36,000 in private households, mining and agriculture recorded 1,000 losses each.

“Sectors that recorded job increases were the formal and informal with 235,000 and 6,000 respectively,” Stats SA said.

Just as in the previous quarter, youth aged between 15 and 34 continue to be vulnerable with an unemployment rate of 45.5%.

According to the Stats, the total number of unemployed youth decreased by 182,000 to 4,6-million in quarter three.

“There was an increase of 25,000 in the number of employed youth during the same period. The increase in employment and the decrease in unemployment among the youth resulted in a decrease in the youth unemployment rate by 1,0 percentage point,” concluded the statement.

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