Even as SA logged a slight fall in the unemployment rate in the first quarter, economists warn those gains may be erased by the adverse impact of a weaker global environment directly weighing on export potential and a tightening of domestic monetary policy.

Raymond Parsons, an economist at North-West University Business School, said the positive development in the unemployment rate is in view of inevitable time-lags, following SA’s strong economic recovery in 2021 from the previous pandemic lockdowns...