South Africa Jobless Rate Falls to 24.5% in Fourth Quarter
- Falling commodity prices, drought curbs work opportunities
- Job creation one of mosty pressing concerns, Treasury says
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South Africa’s unemployment rate declined to 24.5 percent in the fourth quarter as the increased employment in the finance industry offset job losses in agriculture and construction.
The jobless rate fell from 25.5 percent in the previous three months, Statistics South Africa said in a report released on Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. The median of seven economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 25.6 percent. The number of people without jobs decreased by 225,000 to 5.2 million.