The number of South Africans who are unemployed rose by 2.2 percentage points in the third quarter of 2021, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said on Tuesday.
According to the agency’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the period July-September 2021, the number of employed people declined by 660,000 to 14.3 million.
It said “the unemployment rate, according to the expanded definition of unemployment, increased by 2.2 percentage points to 46.6 percent” during the third quarter of 2021 compared to the previous three months.
“Between quarter 2 of 2021 and quarter 3 of 2021, the number of employed people decreased in all industries with the exception of finance, where employment increased by 138,000,” the agency said.
The survey showed that the only employment increase was in the informal sector, while employment losses were observed in the formal sector, private households and the agricultural sector.
“The largest decrease in employment was recorded in trade (309,000), followed by community and social services (210,000) and construction and private households (65,000 each),” it said.
The survey noted seven out of eight industries recorded formal sector employment losses.
Some 571,000 job losses were recorded in the formal sector, which saw seven out of eight industries suffering declines.
Affected sectors included the trade, community and social services, construction and mining industries.
Finance was the only industry that experienced gains in formal sector employment in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the second quarter.
NM/jn/APA