South Africa’s unemployment rate has remained unchanged between quarter one and two of 2017 at 27.7%, according to the latest data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
“Unemployment has stayed steady at 27.7% in the second quarter of the year,” said statistician general, Pali Lehohla, at a media briefing in Pretoria today (Monday).
On a year-on-year basis, the unemployment rate increased by 1.1%
“We don’t know what the next quarter will be [bring]… It’s very difficult to say that there will be more jobs,” said Lehohla.
Stats SA released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), which showed that employment had declined by 113 000 to approximately 16.1 million, while the number of those seeking work had also declined by 37 000 to approximately 6.2 million.
