Unemployment may have remained high during the second quarter of 2017, underscoring the weakness of an economy in recession, data to be released this week is forecast to show. SA’s unemployment rate reached 27.7% in the first three months of 2017 — the highest in 14 years — after growth in job seeker numbers was faster than a rise in employment. The Statistics SA announcement of the second quarter rate in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey on Tuesday is likely to attract attention this week. This will be preceded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Economic Survey of SA which the OECD and the Treasury will publish in Pretoria on Monday. This document is likely to illustrate how low growth and high unemployment are weighing on social progress.

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