Statistics South Africa has revealed that South Africa’s unemployment rate has increased from 29.15 to 30.1% in the first quarter of the year 2020. According to StatsSA this is by far the highest increase in the unemployment rate during a financial crisis, higher than 24% in 2009.
The economy of South Africa was already in recession before the Covid-19 pandemic and imposed lockdown which has cripple small business enterprises and major enterprises, forcing a number of businesses to retrench staff members to cut costs. So far nearly 40 000 people have lost their jobs in less than 3 months.
Youth unemployment now stands at 41.7%. Divided between genders, 32.4% of women are unemployed, while 33.8% of black Africans are unemployed.
The unemployment rate in black African people still remains the highest with the Coloured population on the second highest.
