Unemployment rate drops marginally to 27.1% at end of 2018 - Stats SA

South Africa's unemployment rate decreased to 27.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, Stats SA announced on Tuesday morning. 

The unemployment rate at the end of the third quarter of 2018 was 27.5%, meaning the rate has fallen by 0.4 percentage points. 

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter, there are 16.5 million employed people and 6.1 million unemployed people between the ages of 15 and 64 years in South Africa. 

The unemployment figures were in line with the estimates of analysts. Investec's Kamilla Kaplan predicted last week that the figures could show a decline in the unemployment rate to 27.1%, noting that seasonal hiring in the services sectors in the last quarter of the year results in an improvement in the number of individuals employed.

"However, this hiring is typically reversed in the following quarter," she said.  

* More to come