The jobless rate rose to 32.6% from 32.5% in the three months through December, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in a report released in the capital, Pretoria. The median of six economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 33.5%. Unemployment according to the expanded definition, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, rose to 43.2% from 42.6% the previous quarter. That was as the number of discouraged work-seekers surged by 201,000 people in the quarter.
Key Points:
- The number of unemployed people rose by 8,000 to 7.2 million and the employed fell by 28,000 to 15 million.
- Manufacturing added 7,000 jobs.
- Mining added 12,000 jobs.
- Agriculture lost 18,000 jobs.
- Construction lost 87,000 jobs.
- Trade industry lost 84,000.
- Transport lost 40,000 jobs.
- Finance industry added 215,000 jobs.
- Community, social services added 16,000 jobs.