Slight increase in NC unemployment rate
WITH a reported increase of 0.1%, from 24.9% in the third quarter of 2021 to 25% in the fourth quarter of 2021, the Northern Cape has recorded the lowest official unemployment rate in the country.
The official unemployment rate for youth aged between 15 to 34 in the Northern Cape has increased by 2.2 percentage points to 39.4% from quarter 3 of 2021 to quarter 4 of 2021.
The expanded unemployment rate for youth in the Northern Cape has also increased - by 3.3 percentage points to 64.5% in the same period.
The official unemployment rate for adults between the ages 35 to 64 decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 13.8%, while the expanded adult unemployment rate also decreased, by 0.4 percentage points to 36%, between quarters 3 and 4 of 2021.
The chief director of labour statistics at Stats SA, Malerato Mosiame, said yesterday that although the increase in the unemployment rate is very slight, it is still worrisome.
“The fact that there are job losses remains a concern. The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the fourth quarter of 2021 in the Northern Cape show that the number of employed persons decreased by 11 000 to 264 000, and the number of unemployed persons also decreased by 3 000 to 88 000 in the 4th quarter of 2021 compared to the 3rd quarter of 2021,” said Mosiame.
“The number of not economically active population increased by 16 000 to 469 000 during quarter 4 of 2021. The number of discouraged work-seekers decreased by 1 000 and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 17 000 between the two quarters in the Province.”
Mosiame said that many people get discouraged from continuing to look for employment with no success.
“People get discouraged when you submit an application for employment but cannot find a job in a certain time. Also, sometimes they find that there are no jobs available that require their skills or the type of jobs they want are not available in their area. This makes them discouraged and they give up on the prospects of finding employment.”
Mosiame said that although there was an increase in the number of unemployed people in the Province, there were some sectors where employment opportunities increased.
“Formal sector employment in the Northern Cape decreased by 23 000 jobs between quarter 3 of 2021 and quarter 4 of 2021, while the informal sector jobs increased by 4 000 in the same period.
“Employment in agriculture in the Province increased by 7 000. Increases were also observed in community and social services with 4 000 employment opportunities, followed by construction with 2 000 and transport, also with 2 000 employment opportunities.”
She added that the greatest job losses were recorded in the mining sector, where 10 000 job losses were reported, while the trade industry reported 8 000 job losses and manufacturing reported 2 000 job losses.