Unemployment & unrest: Here's what to expect from David Mabuza Q&A on Thursday

The government's response to unemployment and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng will be among the questions posed to Deputy President David Mabuza on Thursday.

The presidency said Mabuza will respond to questions from members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) as part of executive accountability to the legislature. 

The session follows the release of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Stats SA on Tuesday. The agency said the country's unemployment had reached its highest since the survey started in 2008. 

The official employment rate is up from 32.6% to 34.4%. This increase is attributed to a large number of people who moved from the “employed” and “economically active” statuses to “unemployed”.

The expanded unemployment rate increased to 44.4%.

“The number of employed people decreased by 54,000 to 14.9-million in Q2, while the number of unemployed people increased by 584,000 to 7.8-million compared to Q1, resulting in an increase of 530,000 (up by 2.4%) in the number of people in the labour force.

“In spite of the increase in the number of discouraged work-seekers (up by 5.9%), the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 571,000 (down by 4.1%) between the two quarters, resulting in a net decrease of 386,000 in the not economically active population,” said the report. 

Mabuza will also focus on the impact of the looting in KZN and Gauteng last month and address measures to ensure nation-building, social cohesion and moral regeneration.