Statistics South Africa reveals country’s employment figure severely low

On Friday, the Statistics South Africa has revealed that South Africa's troubled economy has lost nearly 30,000 jobs between July and September 2019.

Releasing statistics on jobs lost and gained in the various sectors of the economy, Stats South Africa said construction, manufacturing and government shed the most number of jobs during this period. These sectors lost between 11,000 and 12,000 jobs each during the period in question, the agency said.

The commercial sector was the only positive contributor to new jobs, it added. South Africa's overall unemployment rate remains at 29 percent, according to Stats South Africa.

Last month, the Statistics South Africa revealed that the inequality trends in the country is severely high. Despite democracy being realised in 1994, very little progress had been made to redress the ills of the past.

"If you browse through the report, you'll see that inequality is actually quite high still. So even when we talk about reductions, and we talk about progress being made, the levels [of inequality] that are being reported in South Africa are still very, very high compared to other countries," said Werner Ruch, director of research and product development at Stats South Africa.