South Africa’s official jobless rate ticked up slightly in the second quarter, a labour report showed on Tuesday, but the number of people who gave up looking for work jumped, signalling the impact of recession.
Africa’s economic powerhouse is wallowing in its first recession in 17 years after depressed local and global demand hit the key manufacturing and mining sectors, leading to job losses.
In its latest quarterly Labour Force Survey, Statistics South Africa said the unemployment rate stood at 23,6% of the labour force in the second quarter of 2009, up slightly from 23,5% in the first quarter.
The slight change in the unemployment number, however, masked a sharper deterioration in the labour market, with the number of ”discouraged work-seekers” increasing by 302 000 to 1,52-million in the second quarter.
The total number of unemployed people stood at 4,12-million in the second three months of this year, while the number of employed people fell by 267 000 to 13,37-million.
”These patterns suggest that in quarter two there was a shift from both employment and unemployment into discouragement as individuals gave up hope of finding work or felt there were no jobs in the area,” Statistics South Africa said in a statement.
An expanded definition of unemployment, which included discouraged work-seekers, increased to 32,5% from 31,2% in quarter one.
Statistics South Africa said jobs were lost across most sectors, with the biggest quarter-on-quarter fall seen in private households and the trade sectors.
”The economy is not creating jobs, people are losing jobs in big numbers,” said Kefiloe Masiteng, deputy director general for population and social statistics at Stats SA.
”The economic downturn is starting to show its impact … times are hard.” — Reuters