JOHANNESBURG, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The South African rand extended its losses on Tuesday, with a stronger dollar outweighing a modest improvement in domestic jobs data reported by the national statistics agency earlier in the day.
At 1501 GMT, the rand traded at 16.0850 against the dollar, down roughly 0.7% on Monday's close and about 0.3% weaker than levels seen in the morning.
South Africa's unemployment rate fell modestly to 31.4% in the fourth quarter from 31.9%, reaching its lowest in more than five years as jobs were added in social services, construction and finance, though it was still among the highest worldwide.
Lara Hodes, an economist at Investec, had projected unemployment to ease to 31.7% in Q4, while Nedbank economists expected the rate to hold close to 32%.
"The lower unemployment rate mainly reflects a moderate rise in employment, but against a sharp decline in the labour force and an equally worrying jump in discouraged job-seekers," said Nedbank economists in a note.
"The labour market outlook remains uncertain, but there are signs that support cautious optimism."
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 1%.
South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was slightly stronger as the yield fell 1.5 basis points to 7.915%.
(Reporting by Anathi Madubela and Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Alex Richardson)
