SA Unemployment At Record High

UNEMPLOYMENT South Africa's unemployment rate has risen to its highest level on record in the first quarter of 2021 according to today's official data. This is largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The jobless rate rose to 32.6% between January to March, compared to 32.5% percent from October to December 2020.

The number of jobless people rose by 8,000 to 7.2 million from the fourth quarter of 2020.

The job losses were largely registered in the construction and agricultural sectors. The expanded definition of unemployment: people who are employable but have given up looking for work; rose by 0.6 percentage points to 43.2 percent. Youth unemployment is even higher, with the unemployment rate among those aged 15 to 34 years old exceeding 46 percent.

The unemployment rate in South Africa has remained above 20 percent for at least two decades. Today's reading, however, is the highest figure on record since the launch of South Africa's quarterly labour force survey in 2008, according to statistician-general Risenga Maluleke.

ECONOMY South Africa's economy, which contracted by seven percent in 2020, is still reeling from the knock-on effects of rolling restrictions to stem the spread of Covid-19.

The stifled economic activity bled hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The African continent's most industrialised economy was already in recession when the coronavirus hit last March. It is Africa's hardest hit by Covid-19, with over 1.6 million infections, including more than 56,000 fatalities.

MARKET IMPACT The Rand fell just over 0.5% against the US Dollar and the Euro on news but partially recovered end of day.

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