South Africa’s unemployment rate — among the highest in the world — increased for a second consecutive quarter to 33.2%, official data showed. The sectors with the biggest jumps were community and social services, agriculture, and finance.
The results, published on Tuesday, are another blow to South Africa’s year-old governing coalition, which had promised to prioritize lowering unemployment.
The country’s youth population remains particularly vulnerable: 46% of South Africans aged under 34 were unemployed in the second quarter, the same rate as in the first three months of the year.
