SA's Q1 unemployment rate increased to 30.1% - Stats SA
The number of employed persons decreased by 38,000 to 16,4 million between January and March 2020.
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's unemployment rate for the first quarter of this year rose to by a percentage point to 30.1%.
The number of employed persons decreased by 38,000 to 16,4 million between January and March 2020, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 344,000 to 7,1 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Stats SA has released the first quarter figures.
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— Stats SA (@StatsSA) June 23, 2020
South Africa’s unemployment rate increase by 1,0 percentage point to 30,1% in Q1:2020 compared to Q4:2019. The unemployment rate usually increases between Q4 and Q1 each year.
Read more here: https://t.co/rsyaaGNHrt#StatsSA #unemployment pic.twitter.com/kBRWWTsJAT
Chief economist at Stanlib Kevin Lings said that these numbers were exceptional.
"The unemployment rate from my perspective jumped quite substantially, it's now at about 30%. What's stood out in particular, is that in the past year, almost 900,000 more people have become unemployed and I think that is exceptional and it speaks to our inability to create jobs in a very low-growth environment."
It's important to note that these figures capture data from the first quarter of this year.
Many more jobs have been lost since the lockdown was implemented in March.
