Unemployment rate drops to 26.7%
13 February 2018
Cape Town - The unemployment rate declined to 26.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the quarterly labour force survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday.
This comprises 5.9 million people, based on the official definition of unemployment which includes those who are not employed but actively looking for jobs.
However, this is 12.7 percentage points away from the 14% targeted in the National Development Plan for 2020, according to statistician general Risenga Maluleke, who delivered the results in Pretoria. The NDP target for 2030 is 6%.
This is 1 percentage point down from the unemployment rate of 27.7% recorded for the second and third quarters of 2017.