Johannesburg - South Africa's unemployment rate increased to 25.5% of the labour force in the second quarter of 2014, from 25.2% in the first quarter, data showed on Tuesday.
In its quarterly labour force survey, which polls households, Statistics SA said this amounted to 5.154 million people without work in the second quarter, up from 5.067 million in the previous three months.
The manufacturing sector lost 93 000 jobs in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, was at 35.6% in the second quarter from 35.1% previously.