Anna Cox South Africa’s unemployment rate remained more or less stable at around 30% in the period March to September last year. According to figures released by the Labour Force Survey (LFS), in March 2002 the unemployment rate was 29.4% and in September it was 30.5%. The slight increase, according to Statistics SA, can be attributed to a sampling error. There were about 4,7 million unemployed people and 11,4% employed within that period. Of this figure, 7,03% were employed in the formal sector such as transport, the public sector, health, welfare and tourism, but agriculture is excluded. The LFS is a bi-annual survey conducted by Stats SA.
