Cape Town - The latest data release by Stats SA has highlighted that the labour market in South Africa is more favourable to men than it is to women.
The official unemployment rate for women sits at 36.8%, compared to 32.4% for men.
Stats SA said that men are more likely to be in paid employment than women regardless of race.
Stats SA spokesperson Felicia Sithole said: “The proportion of men in employment is higher than that of women; more men than women are participating in the labour market as the labour force participation rate of men is higher than that of women; and the unemployment rate among men is lower than amongst women.”
The number of unemployed persons increased by 584 000 to 7.8 million compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile at 25.8%, the Western Cape continues to have the lowest official unemployment in South Africa.
Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said: “Encouragingly, we’ve seen a quarter-on-quarter growth of 49 000 jobs in agriculture, 19 000 jobs in construction and 11 000 jobs in transport.
“However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown restrictions continue to have a major impact on the provincial economy and quarter-on-quarter 53 000 jobs were lost.”
Meanwhile Maynier has written to Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams asking for clarity about the once-off business survival funding mechanism announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July.
“We understood that the mechanism could be accessed by small businesses across the country who have been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“However we are concerned that it now appears that these funds will only be directed to small businesses negatively affected by the looting and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng,” said Maynier.