Rise in unemployment ‘no surprise’
South Africa’s stubbornly high unemployment rate has seen a rise in the second quarter of 2018.
Statistician-general Risenga Maluleke released the quarterly labour survey on Tuesday - and it paints a bleak picture for unemployed South Africans.
The unemployment rate increased to 27.2% in the second quarter, up from 26.7% in quarter one.
Maluleke said over 6 million South Africans are now unemployed.
"6,1m people of working age in SA were unemployed,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
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"4,2 million (68,8%) of unemployed people in SA have been without employment for 12 months or more."
WATCH: @StatsSA’s Statistician Gen Maluleke on QLFS data that showed that SA’s #unemployment rate rose to 27.2%. The number of unemployed persons rose from 4.4 million in the first quarter to 6.1 million in the second quarter. Full story follows on https://t.co/McyZPpw1R9 pic.twitter.com/TeofnJu7C7
— SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) July 31, 2018
Chief economist at Econometrix, Azar Jammine, says the latest unemployment figures are not surprising.
"The figures might be more worse than expected but one should not be too surprised at the loss of jobs and the increase in unemployment. The economy is not doing particularly well."
Jammine says ongoing labour disputes, such as the one at Eskom, are making it difficult for investors to plough into the economy.