Some good news on unemployment
Statistics SA says unemployment in the non-agricultural formal sector decreased by 0,4% between September and December 2018.
The unemployment rate now stands at 27,1% compared to 27,2% in the third quarter of last year.
The number of unemployed people declined from 6,2 million in the third quarter to 6,1 million in the fourth quarter of last year after the non-agricultural formal sector grew by 87 000 between September and December.
The informal sector employment rate declined by 15 000 jobs during the same period.
Stats SA says sectors such as business services, trade, and community services were the biggest contributors to the decrease in unemployment.
But economist Francois Stofberg says the unemployment rate is still worsening, if compared to 2017, when unemployment stood at 26%.
"There was a pickup in 2018, up from 26% to this 27,1% level. This is a gradually worsening of unemployment figures that we actually see occur.
"Over the last couple of years, we see a structural shift in unemployment that persists to the upper limit.”
Also Read: Hlatshwayo: Bafana game against Libya was ‘war’
He believes there will be a slight improvement in unemployment this year, with the elections opening more part-time jobs.
"We might see a slight pickup in 2019 and usually in an election year part-time jobs are created, things might look better slightly this year.
"But we not expecting too much from the economy, especially if you take the impact load-shedding has had in our country."