SA's unemployment rate improves
The official unemployment rate declined further to 32.9% in the third quarter of 2022, from 33.9% in the second, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday.
Unemployment hit a record high of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that 204 000 jobs were gained between the second and third quarter of 2022.
The largest job gains were in manufacturing (+123 000), trade (+82 000), construction (+46 000) and transport (+33 000).
Job losses were however recorded in the finance sector (-80 000), private households (-36 000) and mining and agriculture (-1 000) each.
The expanded unemployment rate - which includes discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for work - decreased to 43.1% from 44.1% in the second quarter.
The QLFS has faced some scrutiny in recent months, amid growing concern about the reliability of SA’s employment data.
Statistics SA is meant to collect data on the employment status of 33 000 households – which is extrapolated to determine the jobless rates for around 40-million adults in the country. However, last year it contacted fewer than 14 300 households. The interviews were done telephonically - not face-to-face as before the pandemic.
At the start of this year, however, in-person interviews resumed.
News24 previously reported that the head of the Statistics Council, the advisory board to Statistics SA, raised the alarm about the quality of the unemployment data.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
Klüber Lubrication ensures that the world’s essential systems—drive units, machines, and water flow—operate efficiently, sustainably, and reliably...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
