JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s unemployment rate increased to 32.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter, according to data from Statistics SA.

While the results from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2020 showed that the number of employed people increased to 15 million, it also showed that the number of unemployed people increased to 7.2 million.

The country has recorded the highest unemployment rate since 2008.

The rate has increased by 1.7 percentage points during the fourth quarter of last year.

This means there was a movement in the labour market which was proportionately more to the unemployed than for the employed where increases were also recorded.

According to the expanded definition of unemployment, the rate decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 42.6% in the fourth quarter.

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This article first appeared on EWN : SA unemployment rate increased to 32.5% in Q4 of 2020 - Stats SA