South Africa’s unemployment rate dropped to 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024, marking the first decline in a year.
This improvement was driven by job growth in the community, social services, and construction sectors, reflecting increased business confidence and signs of economic recovery.
Statistics South Africa reported that the number of employed individuals rose by 294,000 to 16.9 million, while the number of unemployed decreased by 373,000 to 8.0 million. Consequently, the labour force shrank by 79,000 (0.3%) during this period.
Discouraged work-seekers increased by 160,000 (5.0%), and those not economically active for reasons other than discouragement rose by 54,000 (0.4%), bringing the total not economically active population to 16.5 million.
The expanded unemployment rate, which includes those available for work but not actively seeking it, also decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 41.9%.
This positive shift is welcomed by South Africa’s new government of national unity, which prioritises reducing unemployment and accelerating economic growth. President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged significant investment to upgrade the country’s infrastructure, with the construction sector adding 176,000 new jobs in the quarter.
The increase in employment supports the government’s efforts to stabilise debt, expand the tax base, and reduce dependency on state support.
The Treasury has allocated R3.4 billion to job-creation initiatives for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with an estimated 30.6% of the population expected to receive some form of social grant over the next three years, Bloomberg reported.
The median estimate of three economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for the jobless rate to drop to 32.8%.
“The drop in the jobless rate was in large part due to a surge in jobs created, a big share of them in the construction sector — in keeping with the GNU’s pledge to turn South Africa into a building site,” said Bloomberg Economics’ Africa economist Yvonne Mhango.
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