South Africa’s Unemployment Rate Drops to 25% in Third Quarter

Unemployment is bad in many industrialized nations, but nowhere is as bad as South Africa. South Africa’s unemployment rate fell from 25.7% in the second quarter but the nation’s growth appears to be slowing,

Pravin Gordhan

Statistics South Africa said in a report released in Pretoria.

From Bloomberg: The median estimate of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase to 26%. Unemployment in South Africa is the highest of 61 nations tracked by Bloomberg. The number of people in work rose 193,000 to 13.3 million.

The purchasing manager’s index rose above the 50 mark for the first time in three months in September and measured 50.5 in October, signaling an expansion in factory output, while manufacturing production climbed 5.6% in August and retail sales surged more than expected in that month.

Economic growth in Africa’s biggest economy slowed to an annualized 1.3% in the second quarter, the lowest rate of expansion in almost two years, making it difficult for the government to meet its goal of reducing the jobless rate to 14% in 10 years.

South African’s economy needs to grow 7% annually for a decade to reduce unemployment to a target of 14%, according to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.