Official unemployment rate drops to 32,6%
The official unemployment rate stood at 32,6% in the second quarter of 2023, from 32.9% in the first quarter.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke released the latest employment and unemployment figures in Tshwane on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate, according to the expanded definition, decreased by 0,3% to 42,1% in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the first quarter.
[ 🧵] The official #unemployment rate has decreased by 0,3 of a percentage point to 32,6% in Q2:2023. #StatsSA pic.twitter.com/hnNRQn5eqn
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) August 15, 2023
“Additionally, the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 93 000 to 13,3 million. The discouraged work-seekers decreased by 94 000 in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter of 2023, resulting in a net decrease of 1 000 in the not economically active population.
“The above changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate decreasing by 0,3 of a percentage point from 32,9% in the first quarter of 2023 to 32,6% in the second quarter of 2023,” said the director of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey Dihlolelo Phoshoko.
Employment has been on the increase since the fourth quarter of 2021 following job losses brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It increased in the second quarter by 154 000 to 16,3 million, almost at pre-Covid levels of 16.4 million.
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