Pretoria - South Africa's unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2010 was virtually unchanged at 25.3 percent, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday.
The release of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of the year revealed that the figure was 0.1 percentage point higher than quarter one's 25.2 percent unemployment rate. Between quarter one and two, employment contracted by 61 000 jobs.
On a year-on-year basis, South Africa's employment contracted by 4.7 percent or 627 000 jobs.
The data revealed that the formal sector employment contracted by 1.4 percent or 129 000 jobs.
Quarter-on-quarter job losses were experienced by the agriculture, transport, manufacturing and construction industry losing by 4.9, 4.3, 3.1 and 1.5 percent respectively.
On a year-on-year basis the biggest losses were observed in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction industries.
Meanwhile, the informal job market (which contributes about 16 percent of total employment) created 11 500 jobs in quarter two.
"This could be attributed to the World Cup preparations," said Stats SA's Deputy Director General for population and social statistics, Kefiloe Masiteng. From 11 June to 11 July, South Africa hosted the first African World Cup.
Masiteng, however, added that the effects of the biggest football tournament would likely be seen in the third quarter results of the QLFS.
In the second quarter, industries that gained jobs were namely finance; trade; mining; community and social services. However, jobs were lost in the private households; transport; construction; manufacturing and agriculture sector.
The biggest job losses in the second quarter were the Northern Cape at 3.7 percent followed by the Western Cape at 2.4 percent and KwaZulu-Natal at 2.3 percent.
In Limpopo, 44 000 jobs were created on a quarter-on-quarter basis. According to Stats SA's labour statistics executive manager Yandiswa Mpetsheni, these jobs were created in the mining industry.
Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on a year-on-year basis were hardest hit in terms of job losses.
According to the data, most job losses were in the technician, craft and related trade sectors as well as in elementary occupations.
In terms of youth unemployment, this increased by 1.3 percent among people aged 15 to 24-years-old on a quarter-on-quarter basis, said Mpetsheni. In quarter two, the youth (aged 15 to 34) constitute 72.4 percent of unemployment.
