Image: DANIEL BORN
The latest unemployment figures are "appalling", the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Wednesday.
"Cosatu is appalled that South Africa's official unemployment rate is still rising," spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.
"These shocking figures confirm that we are nowhere close to achieving the rate of job creation we need if we are to meet government's target of creating five million new jobs by 2020."
The Statistics SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey released on Tuesday revealed that the number of unemployed increased to 4.7 million in the second quarter of 2013 -- the highest level yet.
Between the first and second quarter of the year 122 000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed.
Craven said the trade union federation would campaign for the implementation of policies such as the Industrial Policy Action Plan, the Infrastructure Development Programme, and "at least some of the New Growth Path".
The campaign would strengthen Cosatu's determination to demand that the Treasury and SA Reserve Bank were given new mandates and aligned their strategies with those adopted at the African National Congress's conference in Mangaung last year, said Craven.