Unemployment rate unchanged

SOUTH Africa’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 27.7% in the June quarter from the March quarter, dashing hopes of a slight improvement.

The overall number of employed South Africans fell by 113 000 to 16.1-million, Statistics SA reported on Monday.

For the Eastern Cape there was bad news as the official unemployment rate increased on an annual basis by 5.8 percentage points from 28.6% to 32.2%.

Although Buffalo City showed a loss of 5 000 jobs over the quarter, dropping from 257 000 to 252 000, it was an improvement of 22 000 jobs year-on-year, up from 230 000 in April to June last year.

The largest quarterly employment losses were recorded in Gauteng (143 000) and Eastern Cape (26 000), while Limpopo (32 000) and KwaZulu-Natal (29 000) recorded the largest employment gains.

Meanwhile, the country’s working age population grew by 157 000 to 37.2-million.

The number of formal sector jobs declined by 144 000 from March to June.

Worst hit was construction, where 110 000 jobs were lost over the quarter, while the mining industry shed 13 000 jobs.

The trade sector hired 58 000 additional people, finance added 17 000 jobs, and manufacturing 10 000 jobs.

The informal sector added 80 000 jobs in the second quarter, helping to offset 40 000 jobs lost in the agricultural sector and 8 000 fewer domestic workers employed from March to June.

“According to the expanded definition of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers, the unemployment rate is a very worrying 36.6%, up from 36.4% in the first quarter,” Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings said yesterday.

“In addition, the unemployment rate for people younger than 25, using the expanded definition, is a shockingly high 67.4%.

“Clearly, the rate of youth unemployed has become a national crisis, with significant social, economic and political implications.

“Under these circumstances, the number of social grants paid will continue to increase, putting further strain on the government’s fiscal position.

“Back in the year 2000, a social grant was paid to 2.9-million people. This increased to 14.6million in 2010, with the extension of the age for child grants.

“By 2015, the number of social grant recipients was up to 16.9million and was budgeted at 17.3-million in 2017.” — DDC