The country’s first-quarter unemployment rate rose by 0.8 of a percentage point to 32.9% when compared to 32.1% in the fourth quarter of last year.
This was revealed by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke in Pretoria when he announced the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) in Pretoria.
“The number of unemployed persons increased by 330 000 to 8,2 million during the same quarter.
Additionally, the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 214 000 to 13,1 million, while discouraged work-seekers decreased by 1 000 in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023,” said Maluleke.
Maluleke said this resulted in a net decrease of 215 000 in the not economically active population.
In addition, the results of the QLFS indicate that the number of employed persons increased by 22 000 to 16,7 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
According to Maluleke, formal sector employment increased by 56 000 in Q1, 2024, while informal sector employment decreased by 100 000 over the same period.
“The industries that contributed to the net employment increase include Trade (up by 109 000), Manufacturing (up by 99 000), Private households (up by 44 000), Transport (up by 39 000), Agriculture (21 000) and Mining (9 000).
Employment losses were recorded in Community and social services (122 000), Construction (106 000), Finance (50 000) and Utilities (17 000),” explained Maluleke.
KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Northern Cape recorded increases in employment, when compared to the previous quarter Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.
Those that recorded decreases in employment were Western Cape followed by North West, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, and Limpopo, while Free State remained unchanged.
Maluleke said the youth remain the most vulnerable in the labour market.
“The youth (15 to 34 years) remain vulnerable in the labour market; the first quarter of 2024 results show that the total number of unemployed youth increased by 236 000 to 4,9 million while there was a decrease of 7 000 in the number of employed youth to 5,9 million.
This resulted in an increase in the youth unemployment rate by 1,3 percentage points from 44,3% in Q4: 2023 to 45,5% in Q1: 2024,” highlighted Maluleke.
