Jobless rate down but mines still bleeding
Mining has shed 65,000 jobs since the last quarter of 2015, Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows
SA has added 235,000 employees to the economy in the last quarter of 2016, despite one of its key employers, the mining sector, continuing to bleed jobs. Statistics SA said on Tuesday unemployment had dropped to 26.5% in the fourth quarter. The working-age labour force, those between 15 and 64 years old, is 36.9-million. Of these, 15.1-million are not economically active; the active labour force is 21.8-million. Just more than 16-million of the active labour force are employed and 5.8-million unemployed, Stats SA said. Data provider Trading Economics had expected 27.3% jobless rate and the Bloomberg consensus was for 27%. The jobs bloodbath the mining sector warned of in 2016 has continued unabated as the sector lost 17,000 more employees in the third and fourth quarters of 2016. More losses were expected, Statistics SA said. Mining has shed 65,000 jobs since the last quarter of 2015, Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed. Roger Baxter, Chamber of Mines CEO, said from 2014...
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