Unemployment rate decreases to 33.9%

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Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the figures on Tuesday.

These results indicate that 648,000 jobs were gained between the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2022.

Stats SA said the changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate decreasing by 0.6 of a percentage point from 34.5% in the first quarter of 2022 to 33.9% in the second quarter of 2022.

The unemployment rate according to the expanded definition of unemployment also decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 44.1 % in Q2:2022 compared to Q1:2022.

Unemployment rate falls to 34.5% in first quarter

31 May 2022

Releasing the QLFS, Statistician General Risenga Maluleke said the biggest job gains were recorded in Community and Social Services (276,000), Trade (169,000), Finance (128,000) and Construction (104,000).

He said: “However, there were job losses in Manufacturing (73,000) and Transport (54,000). The total number of persons employed was 15.6 million in the second quarter of 2022.

“The number of unemployed persons increased by 132,000 to 8.0 million in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter. The number of discouraged work-seekers decreased by 183,000 (4.9%) and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 452,000 (3.3%) between the two quarters resulting in a net decrease of 635,000 in the not economically active population.”