South Africa’s unemployment rate has declined for the first time since 2020, falling to 34.5 percent in the first quarter of 2022 from 35.3 percent at the end of 2021. The last time the jobless rate fell was in the second quarter of 2020, when job seekers could not find jobs due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19. Unemployment according to a broader definition, which includes people who were available for work but not searching for a job, fell to 45.5% from 46.2% in the last three months of 2021.
According to a report by the official statistics agency released in Pretoria, 370,000 jobs were created, resulting in the fall of 60,000 in the number of jobless people. Most of the new jobs created were in the community and social services, mining, manufacturing, and trade. The manufacturing and mining industries increased jobs to meet the need for commodities that were in deficit due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the government provided work to more people through its public-works program.
Even after 30 years of the end of Apartheid, poverty, unemployment, and inequality are strongly prevalent in South Africa.
