Unemployment rate: More misery as South Africa reaches ‘new low’
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey – including an updated ‘expanded unemployment rate for Q3 – has been released on Thursday morning. It makes for a grim bit of reading: StatsSA has confirmed just how devastating the lockdown period has been for South Africa, despite many businesses reopening during the months of July, August and September.
South Africa’s official expanded unemployment rate
Since the last figures were released in September, the expanded unemployment rate has sunk even further. A total of 43.1% of working-age South Africans currently do not have a job, a figure which has increased by 1.1% in the last two months. This is up by 4.6% from this time last year.
It marks the worst-ever rate in this category during the 21st-century.
There have been contrasting fortunes across South Africa. Although the expanded unemployment rate has dropped in the Eastern Cape (by 1.6%), it is still home to the highest percentage of jobless citizens (51.2%). Meanwhile, unemployment in the Western Cape has increased, but they still have the smallest amount of residents who are out of work (29.1%).
The range is relatively small across the seven other provinces, with expanded unemployment figures ranging from 41% in Gauteng, to 47.5% in KwaZulu-Natal. The Northern Cape was the only other region which saw work rates rise (+1.1%).
EC recorded the highest official and expanded #unemployment rates in Q3:2020.
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) November 12, 2020
Read more here: https://t.co/aynCHRteZb #StatsSA #employment pic.twitter.com/tcziPDrQL2
Fighting a losing battle
With the pandemic, twin crises gripped South Africa: A public health nightmare, and a business bloodbath. President Ramaphosa had little option but to impose a strict lockdown, and was equally limited when it came to lifting restrictions. However, the actions taken by the government haven’t been enough to stem the tide of job losses.
This dreadful news comes off the back of shock GDP figures, which showed the economy tanked by an eye-watering 51% earlier this year. The impact of lockdown has been jaw-dropping, to say the least, and a hostile job market combined with a soaring unemployment rate has previously been described as a ‘punch in the gut’ by StatsSA.
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