PRETORIA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - South Africa's unemployment rate fell modestly in the fourth quarter, reaching its lowest in over five years as jobs were added in social services, construction and finance, data showed on Tuesday, though it was still among the highest worldwide.
The official jobless rate stood at 31.4% in October-December, down from 31.9% in July-September.
Unemployment rose above 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic and has stayed there since, despite repeated government initiatives to boost job creation.
Analysts had expected little change in the overall unemployment rate as the global economic backdrop remained uncertain, spurring companies to be cautious about expansion.
In the quarter, seven of the 10 industries tracked by the statistics agency recorded increases in employment, while three saw a decline.
LOSS OF OVER 290,000 INFORMAL JOBS
The most jobs were added in community and social services (46,000), construction (35,000) and finance (32,000), while positions were lost in trade (98,000), manufacturing (61,000) and mining (5,000).
One reason why unemployment stayed high in the fourth quarter was the loss of 293,000 informal jobs.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said many informal traders were removed from the streets of Johannesburg around the time of the Group of 20 leaders' summit in November.
The domestic economic picture looks brighter as electricity supply has become more stable and logistics bottlenecks have started to ease, but that is yet to translate into a sharp pickup in economic growth or hiring.
An expanded definition of unemployment that includes the potential labour force edged down to 42.1%.
(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi;Additional reporting by Anathi Madubela;Editing by Alexander Winning and Bernadette Baum)
By Kopano Gumbi
