JOHANNESBURG, July 30 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's unemployment rate has risen to 29 percent in the second quarter of 2019, increasing by 1.4 percentage points from the first quarter of this year, said Statistics South Africa on Tuesday.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said this marked the highest level of joblessness recorded in the country since the Quarterly Labour Force Survey was introduced in 2008.
Meanwhile, the expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged job seekers, stands at 38.5 percent after it went up by 0.5 percentage point.
"The number of unemployed persons increased by 455,000 to 6.7 million in second quarter compared to the first quarter," Maluleke said.
The Eastern Cape recorded the highest number of joblessness with 35.4 percent, while the North West has the higher levels of expanded unemployment at 46.6 percent.
Job losses were recorded in transport sector, where 42,000 jobs were lost, the mining sector saw a decline of 36,000 and the finance industry lost over 21,000 jobs. Maluleke said 49,000 jobs losses were recorded in private households.
Sectors that added jobs in the economy include trade, construction and manufacturing.
that this increase in unemployment must be come as a shock.
"The economy was in the down turn in the first quarter, we should not be surprised. We also saw lay-offs in the first quarter," said Jannie Rossouw, Head of School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
He said the minimum wage which came into effect in January might have contributed to this.
The minimum wage compels employers to pay lowest paid employees a minimum of R3,500 a month.
Rossouw said President Cyril Ramaphosa must show "clear leadership on the economy" and focus on revitalizing the stagnant growth. He also said that currently the country's population growth was higher than that of the GDP. "That can't work, you need to grow the GDP first."
