Unemployment slightly up in third quarter

Unemployment rose to 25.3 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter's 25.2 percent, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) says.

"The levels of the unemployed hardly moved from quarter-to-quarter and resulted in a virtually unchanged unemployment rate of 25.3 percent, up by only 0.1 of a percentage point from what it was in the second quarter of 2010.

"While the unemployment rate remains almost unchanged, the levels of unemployment in South Africa remain high at approximately 4.4 million," said Stats SA in its Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

Formal sector employment contracted by 0.5 percent or 45 000 jobs while the informal sector employment went down by 0.6 percent or 14 000 jobs.

According to Stats SA, the loss of jobs in the formal sector was observed mainly in establishments that employ less than 50 people, while big establishments (that employ over 50 people) it seems were able to generate new jobs in the third quarter.

The Free State had the highest unemployment rate at 29.5 percent.

"The current employment trends suggest that business remains uncertain about the strength and sustainability of the current economic recovery," said Nedbank economist Nicky Weimar.

Weimar said that Nedbank expects the economic environment to improve further. - BuaNews