Unemployment in South Africa increased by 0.2 percentage points in the first quarter of 2023, driven by the formal and informal economic sectors, according to Stats SA’s latest data.

Image: Antonio Muchave
Released on Tuesday, the organisation’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of the year said unemployment increased to 32.9% from 32.7% in the previous quarter.
The number of employed people jumped by 258,000 to 16.2-million compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, said the survey. It added that the number of unemployed people declined by 179,000 to 7.9-million during the same period.
The employment gains were largely driven by the finance, community, social services and agriculture sectors.
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