Unemployment ticks up slightly to 32.6%.
Gallo Images/Dino Lloyd
The official unemployment rate has marginally increased, growing to a record high of 32.6%, data from Stats SA shows.
Minor changes resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 0.1 of a percentage point from 32.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 32.6% in the first quarter of 2021 - the highest since the start of Stats SA's Quarterly Labour in 2008.
Economists had expected the official unemployment rate to hit a new record of 33.4%, as a result of new job seekers such as school leavers and graduates entering the labour force.
However, the country's jobless remained almost unchanged from the fourth quarter at around 7.2 million, Stats SA said.
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