* New jobs in formal sector, but factories shed 44,000
* Unemployment to stay high as growth remains weak
(Adds details, reaction, background)
PRETORIA, July 31 (Reuters) – South Africa’s unemployment
rate slowed slightly in the second quarter but remained high,
official data showed on Tuesday, with key sectors like
manufacturing still shedding jobs as the global economic
downturn hits domestic output.
The unemployment rate was marginally lower at 24.9 percent
of the labour force in the in the three months to June from 25.2
percent in the first quarter, with news jobs created in the
formal sector, Statistics South Africa said.
But manufacturing, which contributes about 15 percent to the
gross domestic product, shed 44,000 jobs during the quarter,
attesting to the struggle businesses face from waning growth in
Europe, South Africa’s main trading partner.
The total number of unemployed people dipped to 4.47 million
from 4.5 million in the first quarter, Stats S.A. said in its
latest quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes
people who have stopped looking for work, also eased to 36.2
percent from 36.6 percent.
The official jobless rate however remains too high and there
is little prospect of a substantial reduction while domestic
growth remains a slave to the global economy, said Colen Garrow,
an independent economist at Meganomics.
The Reserve Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a
40-year low of 5.0 percent earlier this month to try and boost
growth but still lowered its 2012 GDP forecast to 2.7 percent —
in line with the Treasury — from the 2.9 percent seen in May.
Continued…
