Around 14 000 less people were employed in the Province year-on-year.

THE UNEMPLOYMENT rate in the Northern Cape has skyrocketed to 43.3 percent, with around 140 000 people currently unemployed.

The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (Quarter 4: 2016) released this week by Stats SA, shows that the expanded unemployment rate in the Province showed the largest increase in the country, jumping by 1.5 percent in the third quarter of last year from 41.1 percent to 43.3 percent in the last quarter.

Year on year, the expanded unemployment rate in the Province increased from 38.9 percent in October to December 2015.

According to the survey, between the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2016, the expanded unemployment rate declined in four of the nine provinces, with North West and Limpopo recording the largest declines of 3.7 and 2.2 percentage points respectively.

The largest increases were recorded in the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State.

The expanded unemployment rate includes everyone who desires employment, irrespective of whether or not they actively tried to obtain a job.

The official unemployment rate (those actively trying to find jobs) increased in the Northern Cape by 2.4 percent from 29.6 percent in the third quarter of last year to 32 percent in the fourth quarter. The year on year increase (from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016) was a whopping 6.2 percent.

In contrast to the Northern Cape, nationally the unemployment rate eased in the fourth quarter of 2016, falling to 26.5 percent from 27.1 percent in the third quarter, while the number of employed rose.

Quarterly decreases in the official unemployment rate were observed in four of the nine provinces, with the largest decreases occurring in the North West (four percent), Limpopo (2.6 percent), and Western Cape (1.2 percent). The unemployment rate increased in the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga (0.6 percent) and Free State (0.5 percent).

Together with the increase in the unemployment rate, the number of employed people in the Northern cape also declined by 10 000 in the last quarter. Around 14 000 less people were employed in the Province year-on-year.

In comparison, the number of employed persons increased in six provinces, with the largest gains being observed in the Western Cape (70 000), Limpopo (64 000) and North West (60 000), while Free State, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape recorded employment declines of 24 000, 19 000 and 10 000 respectively.

According to the latest survey, the Northern Cape has a total labour force of 438 000 with 298 000 classified as employed and 140 000 unemployed.

A total of 342 000 people in the Province are not economically active and 56 000 are discouraged work-seekers.

In six of the nine provinces, more than 50 percent of the employed persons have an education level below matric. Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have the largest proportions of employed persons with matric or a higher level of education, while Limpopo, Eastern Cape and North West had the lowest proportions of employed persons with matric or a higher level of education.

In the Northern Cape 69.9 percent of the unemployed have an education level lower than a matric, while 24.9 percent have matric, 6.6 percent have a tertiary education and 4.7 percent are graduates.

According to Nedbank economist, Johannes Khosa, the outlook for the job market in South Africa has improved along with the expected recovery in global and local demand conditions, which could help underpin business confidence.

“While economic activity is expected to improve slightly in 2017, the inflation trajectory remains a concern.”

The breakdown shows that employment growth nationally was recorded in eight of the ten major sectors.

“The highest number of job increases was recorded in community and social services (principally government), which employed 73 000 people followed by transport, which gained 46 000 jobs.

“The agricultural sector also performed better, employing 38 000 more workers as the effect of the drought started to recede during the quarter. Employment also improved in the manufacturing sector.

“In contrast, the mining sector continued to shed jobs, with employment falling for the fourth consecutive quarter as exports were affected by lacklustre global demand, low commodity prices and policy uncertainty.”

Khosa added that conditions in the job market were expected to improve somewhat in the coming months.

“The outlook for 2017 is slightly better, with real GDP growth forecast to accelerate.

“The production side of the economy will be supported by the receding effects of the drought, some recovery in commodity prices, steadier conditions in China’s manufacturing sector, reductions in excess capacity in many commodities, as well as the general anticipation that the new US administration will boost the country’s growth through aggressive infrastructure spending, lower taxes and less regulation.

“The consumption side is likely to benefit from increased consumer spending as inflation and interest rates are expected to fall. However, gains are likely to be modest this year with most of the improvement expected in 2018.

“Public sector employment will be restricted by government caps to support necessary fiscal consolidation.”