South Africa’s economy lost about 2.2 million jobs in the second quarter of 2020, data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday revealed.
The latest figures showed that there are only 14.1 million employed people in the country-the lowest since 2011.
Stats SA said the hard lockdown measures implemented across the country in March contributed to the decline in unemployment stats.
Unemployment declined to 23.3 percent in the second quarter from 30.1 percent in the first quarter.
“This sharp fall in the unemployment rate in quarter two is not a reflection of an improvement in the labor market but rather an effect of the national lockdown,” the Quarterly Labor Survey report said.
All the major industries recorded huge declines in unemployment.
A total of 515,000 jobs were lost in the community and social sector. The trade sector jobs decreased by 373,000, while private households shed over 311,000 jobs and finance lost 283,000 jobs
