Unemployment inches lower in Q4, remains stubbornly high

South Africa's unemployment rate fell to 24.5 percent of the labour force in the fourth quarter of the year from 25.5 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Thursday.

In its quarterly labour force survey which polls households, Statistics South Africa said this amounted to 5.2 million people without work in the fourth quarter compared with 5.4 million previously.

The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, was at 33.8 percent in the fourth quarter from 34.4 percent previously.

Employment in the formal sector increased by 250,000 with growth in the finance and trade sectors, while the largest job losses were seen in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

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Analysts said the modest decline in joblessness did not take away from the problem of stubbornly high unemployment in Africa's most industrialised but ailing economy.

"We've hardly seen any meaningful or sustained job creation and that is symptomatic of the poor internal growth environment," said economist at ETM Analytics Jana van der Venter.

In his budget speech on Wednesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan cut the 2016 growth forecast to 0.9 percent from 1.7 previously, and said the government would reduce infrastructure spending and freeze civil service jobs.

The government has said it aims to reduce unemployment to around 6 percent by 2030, mainly through large, state-led infrastructure programs.

- Reuters