JOHANNESBURG - The main opposition Democratic Alliance in Gauteng province said on Wednesday it was shocked by the announcement that South Africa's unemployment rate in the third quarter was the highest it had been in 11 years.
A quarterly labour force survey (QLFS) report from Statistics South Africa on Tuesday showed the jobless rate rose to 29.1 percent of the labour force in the third quarter, with the number of unemployed people increasing to 6.7 million from 4.5 million a decade ago.
Unemployment in Gauteng province, the country's economic hub, came in even higher at 31 percent.
This is a clear indication that the province is moving backwards instead of forward, the DA's Gauteng shadow member of the executive council for economic development Makashule Gana said on Wednesday.
"The Gauteng provincial government has failed to create employment opportunities for our people, particularly the youth. Premier David Makhura is constantly talking about creating work opportunities for people in Gauteng, but the QLFS results clearly indicate that this strategy is not working," he said.