The unemployment rate in South Africa increased during the final months of 2022 painting a grim picture of the job losses experienced by the country's population.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released on Tuesday by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) showed that more people became unemployed during the final three months of 2021.
This according to the statistics agency resulted in the unemployment rate increasing by 0.4 percentage points. The change takes the country's official unemployment rate to 35.3%. This is the highest recorded rate since the start of the QLFS in 2008.
StatsSA said, “While the number of not economically active population decreased by 397 000 to 17, 4 million during this quarter. The number of discouraged work-seekers decreased by 56 000 (1,4%) and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 341 000 (2,4%) between the two quarters”.
Here’s the unemployment rate, expanded unemployment rate and labour force participation rate in each of South Africa’s nine provinces
Eastern Cape
Unemployment rate- 45%
Expanded unemployment rate - 53,2%
Absorption rate - 28,3%
Labour force participation rate - 51,4%
Western Cape
Unemployment rate- 28%
Expanded unemployment rate - 30,4%
Absorption rate - 46,6%
Labour force participation rate - 64,7%
Northern Cape
Unemployment rate- 25%
Expanded unemployment rate - 50,1%
Absorption rate - 32,2%
Labour force participation rate - 42,9%
North West
Unemployment rate- 33,8%
Expanded unemployment rate - 49,9%
Absorption rate - 31,8%
Labour force participation rate - 48,0%
Gauteng
Unemployment rate- 36,6%
Expanded unemployment rate - 44,4%
Absorption rate - 41,7%
Labour force participation rate - 65,8%
Limpopo
Unemployment rate- 33,9%
Expanded unemployment rate - 52,8%
Absorption rate - 30,3%
Labour force participation rate - 45,9%
Mpumalanga
Unemployment rate- 39,7%
Expanded unemployment rate - 52,4%
Absorption rate - 34,4%
Labour force participation rate - 57,1%
KwaZulu-Natal
Unemployment rate- 32,4%
Expanded unemployment rate - 48,7%
Absorption rate - 32,9%
Labour force participation rate - 48,6%
Free State
Unemployment rate- 36,7%
Expanded unemployment rate - 44,2%
Absorption rate - 37,8%
Labour force participation rate - 59,7%
