Page 31 - Stats Sa News Today

Some economists previously expressed concern with the information provided as response rates of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey declined to just over 44% in the fourth quarter.

Sector recorded a stellar 20% job increase quarter on quarter, but it came off a low base.

Data showed the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal recorded expanded unemployment rates higher than 50%.

While it is encouraging that the jobless rate has marginally declined for the first time since 2020, with manufacturing leading in the number of jobs added to the economy, the unemployment rate in SA remains stubbornly among the highest in the world.

The unemployment rate has dropped slightly in Nelson Mandela Bay, inching downwards to 36.4% — the lowest in more than a year.

An economist says the small improvement in the country's unemployment numbers is a sign of the economy gradually stabilising.

"Load-shedding, high crime rate, high unemployment rate, corruption, high food and fuel prices. We are literally living in hell," wrote one user.

The manufacturing and mining industries added jobs and the government employed more people through its public works programme

The official unemployment rate decreased by point-8 of a percentage point from 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 34.5%. Q1 OF 2022

There were fewer people without jobs in South Africa in the first quarter of the year.