SA’s unemployment hits new high
South Africa’s unemployment hit another record in the third quarter of 2021 when compared to the previous quarter.
On Tuesday, statistician general Risenga Maluleke announced that the official unemployment rate increased to 34.9%.
This is a 0.5% increase from the previous quarter.
“We had about 14.9 million people who were employed in quarter two. The number of those that are employed now has dropped by about 660 000 people to 14.3 million,” he said.
“With those that are unemployed, we were sitting at 7.8 million unemployed people in quarter two. That has dropped by about 182 000 to 7.6 million.”
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The provinces which contributed to the record unemployment figures include the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng.
KZN and Gauteng, which were hardest hit by the unrest in July, account for half of the country's economic activity.
The youth continue to bear the brunt of the unemployment figures.
They account for 43.8% of the unemployed, which has shown an increase of 0.9% in the third quarter.
