SA unemployment slightly improves to 32.9% in Q3

The unemployment rate in South Africa decreased to 32.9% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, from 33.9% in Q2, as the manufacturing, trade, construction and transport industries recorded a boost in jobs.

Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA’s) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released the country’s latest jobs data on Tuesday.

According to Stats SA, 204 000 more jobs were gained between Q2 and Q3 of the year, bringing the total number of employed people in the country to 15.8 million.

The expanded definition of unemployment – which takes into consideration discouraged workers – also showed a percentage point improvement in Q3 to 43.1%, down from 44.1% in Q2.

“The number of unemployed persons decreased by 269 000 to 7.7 million and discouraged workseekers also decreased by 54 000 to 3.5 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter,” Stats SA said.

However, “The number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 264 000 between the two quarters, resulting in a net increase of 210 000 in the not economically active population.”

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Sectoral gains

According to the QLFS, the biggest job gains in the quarter were reported in the manufacturing (123 000), trade (82 000), construction (46 000) and transport (33 000) industries.

On the other hand, the sectors that saw the largest job slides during the period were the finance (80 000), private households (36 000), mining (1 000) and agriculture (1 000) industries.

Youth suffer

According to a statement by Stats SA, the country’s youth remain vulnerable in the labour market, with an unemployment rate of 45.5% in young people aged between 15 and 34 – even higher than that reported for the expanded unemployment definition.

Nonetheless, the stats have improved somewhat.

“The total number of unemployed youth decreased by 182 000 to 4.6 million in Q3:2022. 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 one percentage point,”  Stats SA adds.