SA sees 1% decline in unemployment but remains highest in the world — 5 key things you need to know

South Africa's unemployment rate has decreased by 1% in the last quarter of 2022, with about 204,000 job gains.

The latest Stats SA data, released on Tuesday, showed the unemployment rate declined by 1% to 32.9% for the third quarter of 2022, while the expanded unemployment rate came in at 43.1%. This includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job. 

About 204,000 jobs were created between the second and third quarter with the number of employed people standing at 15.8-million.

The number of unemployed people decreased by 269,000 to 7.7-million.

Sectors with biggest job gains

Industries such as manufacturing (123,000), trade (82,000), construction (46,000) and transport (33,000) recorded the largest job gains. 

Job losses were recorded in finance (80,000), private households (36,000) and mining and agriculture (1,000 each). 

Unemployment stats by provinces 

North West (53.3%) recorded the highest expanded unemployment rate in the third quarter, followed by Eastern Cape (50.6%). 

Northern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal recorded more than 15% points difference between expanded and official unemployment rates.

Youth unemployment 

The third quarter results continue to show the youth — those aged 15 to 34 years — remain vulnerable in the labour market with an unemployment rate of 45.5%. 

The total number of unemployed youth decreased by 182,000 to 4.6-million. 

“There was an increase of 25,000 in the number of employed youth during the same period. The increase in employment and the decrease in unemployment among the youth resulted in a decrease in the youth unemployment rate by 1%,” said Stats SA.

Vulnerable races

The black and coloured population groups remain vulnerable in the labour market.

The unemployment rate among the black population group (36.8%) remains higher than the national average and other population groups.

Black women are the most vulnerable with an unemployment rate of 39.1% in last quarter. This is 4.0% higher than the national average for women at 35.1%. 

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