Publications
Partners
Pretoria - The number of South Africans out of work rose to 4.723 million in the second quarter of 2013, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday in its Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).
It is the highest since the agency started the survey in 2008.
This took the country's unemployment to 25.6% of the labour force in the second quarter of 2013, compared with 25.2% in the first quarter, according to Stats SA.
Stats SA said this amounted to 4.7 million people without work in the second quarter, up from 4.6 million jobless in the previous three months.
Compared to a year ago, unemployment in the second quarter of this year had increased by 5.7%.
The country's unemployment rate has been stuck around 25% for the past several years and is one of the biggest headaches for President Jacob Zuma as the country heads into elections next year.
The number of discouraged work-seekers had increased by 35 000 from the first to the second quarter.
The number of those "not economically active" had decreased by 145 000, resulting in a net decrease of 110 000.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, was at 36.8% from 36.7% previously.
The QLFS is a household-based sample survey conducted by StatsSA and covers the labour market activities of people aged 15 to 64.
It is the highest since the agency started the survey in 2008.
This took the country's unemployment to 25.6% of the labour force in the second quarter of 2013, compared with 25.2% in the first quarter, according to Stats SA.
Stats SA said this amounted to 4.7 million people without work in the second quarter, up from 4.6 million jobless in the previous three months.
Compared to a year ago, unemployment in the second quarter of this year had increased by 5.7%.
The country's unemployment rate has been stuck around 25% for the past several years and is one of the biggest headaches for President Jacob Zuma as the country heads into elections next year.
The number of discouraged work-seekers had increased by 35 000 from the first to the second quarter.
The number of those "not economically active" had decreased by 145 000, resulting in a net decrease of 110 000.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, was at 36.8% from 36.7% previously.
The QLFS is a household-based sample survey conducted by StatsSA and covers the labour market activities of people aged 15 to 64.
