South Africa Added 22,000 Non-Farm Jobs In Fourth Quarter

20 Mar 2013

South Africa, which has the highest unemployment rate of about 30 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg, added 22,000 non-farm jobs in the fourth quarter.

Employment in formal, non-agricultural industries increased 0.3 percent to 8.46 million from the third quarter, Pretoria- based Statistics South Africa said on its website today. The data is based on a survey of companies registered to pay taxes.

Africa’s biggest economy grew at a faster pace in the final quarter of last year than the previous three months as manufacturing and agricultural output expanded, the statistics agency said on Feb. 26. The Reserve Bank has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5 percent, the lowest in more than 30 years, since July and will probably hold the rate tomorrow, according to 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The unemployment rate, which reached 24.9 percent in the fourth quarter, is calculated from a survey of formal and informal industries. The government is targeting a 14 percent jobless rate by 2020.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-19/south-africa-added-22-000-non-farm-jobs-in-fourth-quarter