Unemployment in South Africa has eased slightly with more jobs being created in the first three months of this year as economic activity picked up amid a further relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.
Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) today showed that the official unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 of a percentage point, from 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 34.5 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
StatsSA said that at least 370 000 jobs were created between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, mainly in the community and social services, manufacturing and trade industries.
“The number of unemployed persons fell by 60 000 to 7.9 million in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter,” said Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke.
The number of discouraged work seekers decreased by 54 000, or 1.4 percent, and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement, decreased by 112 000 (0,8%) between the two quarters resulting in a net decrease of 166 000 in the not economically active population.”
Maluleke said the unemployment rate according to the expanded definition of unemployment also decreased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 45.5 percent in the same period.
He said that although there was a slight decline in the number of unemployed youth in the first quarter, the youth remained vulnerable in the labour market.
“The first quarter of 2022 saw the total number of unemployed youth (aged 15-34) declining by 0.1 percent, or 5 000, to 4.7 million from the fourth quarter of 2021.
“There was a noticeable increase in the number of youth in employment by 5 percent or 244 000 during the same period.
“The increase in employment and decline in unemployment among the youth resulted in a decrease in youth unemployment rate by 1.2 percentage point to 47.8 percent in the first quarter.”
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