South Africa saw positive growth in the job market in the fourth quarter of 2016, with employment increasing by 235 000 and the number of job seekers declining by 92 000, resulting in the official unemployment rate improving to 26.5%, from the 27.1% recorded in the third quarter of the year.
Growth in employment in the fourth quarter was mainly driven by the services sector, which grew employment by 73 000, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The transport and manufacturing sectors grew employment by 46 000 and 44 000 respectively.
Unpacking the results in Pretoria, Statistician-General Dr Pali Lehohla said the burden of unemployment still fell on young people who remain vulnerable.
“The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, decreased to 35.6% in the fourth quarter, from 36.3% in the previous quarter,” he added.
The working age population grew by 155 000 and the labour force grew by 143 000 in the fourth quarter, compared with the third quarter.
“Employment rose in all sectors, with formal sector employment rising by 127 000 while informal sector employment increased by 53 000. Employment in agriculture went up by 38 000 and private household agriculture employment by 17 000,” he said.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, decreases in employment were recorded in the mining, trade, community and social services, and manufacturing industries, while increases in employment were recorded in the finance and other business services, transport and utilities industries. Employment in the construction sector remained unchanged.