Stats SA has told Parliament that the official unemployment rate for the second quarter of this year is standing at 34.4% and that there were 54 000 less people employed in the second quarter than in the first quarter.
StatsSA has attributed this to the impact of COVID-19 and the stringent lockdown regulations imposed by the government.
Stats SA was briefing the Portfolio Committee on Labour and Employment on its Quarterly Labour Force Survey for quarter two.
Acting Deputy Director-General Nozipho Shabalala says the hard lockdown prevented the movement of the people.
“The unemployment rate is standing at 34.4% and this was an increase of about 1.8 percentage points when we compared to quarter one. The absorption rate is at 37.7 percentage points and declined by 6.6 percentage points. And we have also indicated that finance, community, social services, and construction and manufacturing recorded the largest unemployment losses.”
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has called on the government and private sector to work together in dealing with unemployment
