Staff Reporter
The number of people without jobs in the Free State dropped by 24 000 during the official count for the fourth quarter of 2020, but unemployment remains high, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said.
In its latest report on the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released on Tuesday, Stats SA said the official unemployment rate for the province now stands at 33.4 percent following a 2.1 percentage point drop from the third quarter figure of 35.5 percent.
But despite the drop, the Free State remains one of the provinces with the highest rates of unemployment in the country after the Eastern Cape which has an official rate of 47.9 percent and Gauteng with 34.1 percent.
The official employment figure for the province increased from 723 000 in the third quarter to 745 000, meaning 22 000 people found jobs in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Most of the increases, however, could be temporary as farmers usually hire seasonal workers during that period.
Nedbank’s economic unit said in a commentary the availability of COVID-19 vaccines both locally and globally should help lift business confidence and possibly encourage businesses to start expanding capacity.
It was however quick to mention that structural deficiencies, such as power shortages, policy uncertainties and skills shortages, remain unresolved, thereby limiting the pace of recovery in employment growth.
“Added to this, the number of unemployed and discouraged work seekers who can enter the job market remains high,” said the Nedbank economic unit.
“. . . so even if employment were to increase, the unemployment rate is likely to remain structurally high over the medium term,” it pointed out.
Nationally, the number of employed persons increased by 333 000 to 15 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, and the number of unemployed persons also increased by 701 000 to 7.2 million compared to the third quarter of 2020.
The number of discouraged work-seekers in the country increased by 235 000 or 8.7 percent.
The country’s official unemployment rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to 32.5 percent – the highest since 2008.
The expanded unemployment rate however decreased by half a percentage point to 42.6 percent.