Lentswe, Klerksdorp - The latest unemployment figures were released this week painting a bleak picture of the North West province. It is the only province in South Africa where there are more unemployed people than employed people. The NW unemployment rate is 51.2%, closely followed by Mpumalanga, which sits at 46.7%. The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QFLS), published by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday November 14, shows that the official unemployment decreased by 0.7% from 32.6% in the second quarter of 2023 to 31.9% in the third quarter.
According to the data, the number of unemployed persons dropped by 72 000 to 7.8 million during the period.
The number of employed persons increased by 399,000 to 16.7 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 16.3 million in the second quarter of 2023.
Additionally, the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 160 000 to 13.1 million, while the number of discouraged work-seekers decreased by 26 000 in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2023.
Provincially, the number of employed persons increased in eight provinces between Q2 2023 and Q3 2023.
KwaZulu Natal (+152,000), Limpopo (+70,000), North West (+61,000) and Mpumalanga (+44,000) saw the largest employment number increases during the quarter.
