Cosatu, DA slate rising joblessness

Cape Town - Trade union federation Cosatu said on Thursday it is appalled that SA's unemployment rate is still rising - from 25.0% to 25.7%, between the first and second quarters.

Reacting to Thursday's release of jobs data by Statistics SA, the labour movement said the more realistic expanded unemployment rate, which included "discouraged" people who had not looked for work in the four weeks before the interview - rose from 36.5% to 36.9% in the same period.

"The only small crumb of comfort is a drop in the number of these 'discouraged' job seekers. More of them are now looking for work and therefore are included in the reduced figure, though over the past year as a whole, the number of discouraged work seekers increased by 269,000," Cosatu said.

The government is failing in its promise to create jobs this year, the Democratic Alliance said.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the administration (of President Jacob Zuma) is failing on its promise to make 2011 the year of job creation," DA spokesperson Ian Ollis said.

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey the unemployment rate increased to 25.7% between the first and second quarters of 2011.

Ollis said the survey showed that only 7 000 jobs were created nationally in the last three months.

Cosatu said: "This is the highest level of unemployment SA has experienced in more than five years and yet the drop in jobs has taken place at a time when the economy has been growing for seven consecutive quarters."