Economists predict slight increase in unemployment rate

Economists are predicting an uptick in the unemployment rate when Stats SA publishes quarterly jobless data on Tuesday.  

The country's unemployment rate was 27.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018. Stats SA will publish its Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q1 of 2019 at 11:30.

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Indications of weak economic growth for the first quarter suggest the rate is set to increase, say analysts. 

As Investec's Kamilla Kaplan notes, jobless figures in any case generally rise in the first quarter of the year as temporary employees hired in the service sector over the festive season are laid off.

Kaplan is predicting a 0.4% increase in unemployment to 27.5%, while NKC African Economics estimates that StatsSA will announce a figure of 27.4%.