South Africa’s unemployment rate unexpectedly declined for a second consecutive quarter, even as flooding devastated a major transportation hub and electricity outages intensified.
The jobless rate decreased to 33.9% in the three months through June from 34.5% in the previous quarter, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in a report released in the capital, Pretoria. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of five economists was 35%.
The rate is still the highest on a list of 82 countries and the eurozone monitored by Bloomberg. The International Monetary Fund projects South Africa’s unemployment rate will reach 35.2% this year, the highest in the world, though data for some countries is unavailable.
The social services, finance and trade sectors were among the biggest drivers of job growth during the quarter.
Unemployment according to the expanded definition stood at 44.1%, compared with 45.5% in th prior quarter, meaning almost half of the people who were available to work weren’t looking for a job.
The official jobless rate in Africa’s most industrialized economy has exceeded 20% for at least two decades. That’s largely due to sluggish economic growth, strict labour laws and bureaucratic hurdles that have weighed on the ability of local companies to hire additional workers.
Analysts also cite an education system that doesn’t provide adequate skills and apartheid-era spatial planning that makes it difficult for job seekers to enter and remain in the formal workforce.
