JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 27.2 percent of the labour force in the second quarter from 26.7 percent in the first quarter, the statistics office said on Tuesday.
In its quarterly labour force survey, Statistics South Africa said the manufacturing sector saw the most job losses.
There were 6.1 million people without jobs in the three months to the end of June, compared with 6.0 million people in the first three months of the year, it said.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, rose to 37.2 percent in the second quarter from 36.7 percent in the previous quarter.
JUST IN: South Africa’s #unemployment rate increased to 27.2% in the second quarter of 2018.
In the first quarter of 2018 unemployment was unchanged at 26.7% @StatsSA #StatsSA pic.twitter.com/34hFMjs0DQ
— SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) July 31, 2018
Although #Limpopo& #KZN have low #unemployment rates, absorption rates show less than 40% of the working age population employed in these provinces #StatsSA https://t.co/srPxmTL6WA pic.twitter.com/KEVSxDtHHU
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) July 31, 2018
More than half of 15 – 24 year olds in South Africa were #unemployed in Q2:2018. The absorption rate for this age group was 11,6% & labour force participation rate=25,1% #StatsSA #Youth #Unemployment https://t.co/srPxmTL6WA pic.twitter.com/bUnIgxudXK
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) July 31, 2018