SOUTH Africa’s first quarter unemployment rate rose to the highest level in a year, potentially hurting the ruling African National Congress’s efforts to convince voters of its ability to create jobs ahead of elections on 29 May.
The official jobless rate climbed to 32.9% in the three months through March from 32.1% in the previous quarter, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in a report released in the capital, Pretoria.
The median estimate of three economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 32.3%.
Unemployment according to the expanded definition stood at 41.9%, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, compared with 41.1% in the December quarter. – Bloomberg