In October-December, South Africa’s official unemployment rate fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, moving further away from a record high set during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unemployment rate fell to 32.7% in the final three months of 2022, down from 32.9% in the July-September period, according to the statistics agency on Tuesday.
However, the total number of unemployed increased to 7.753 million in October-December, up from 7.725 million in the previous three months.
According to an expanded definition of unemployment that includes people who are discouraged from looking for work, 42.6% were unemployed in the fourth quarter, down from 43.1% in the third quarter.
Africa’s most industrialized economy has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with a widening gap between rich and poor persisting nearly three decades after apartheid ended.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, the official unemployment rate reached a new high of 35.3%.
