Back to Home

Data stories

eThekwini Labour: Unemployment

Author:The EDGE Team
Published:October 2018

Introduction

This data story provides data on the official unemployment rates for all metros in South Africa from 2007 to 2016. The official unemployment rate excludes discouraged workers from the number of people who are unemployed, resulting in a lower unemployment rate than if discouraged work seekers were included. Therefore, it is useful to also understand the percentage of discouraged work seekers of the unemployed population who are included in the expanded definition of unemployment. This data is included per metro for the second quarter of 2017 and for eThekwini between 2009 and 2017.
How does the unemployment rate affect citizens of eThekwini? The following figures will help us understand this question.

Unemployment: How Does eThekwini Compare to the Rest of the Country?

EThekwini has the lowest official unemployment rate amongst metros in the country.
Download as PNG
sa-metro-official-unemployment-rates_state-1 Created with Sketch. 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 *Live Data Pending SA Metro Official Unemployment Rates City of Cape Town Nelson Mandela Bay eThekwini City of Tswane Ekurhuleni Manguang City of Johannesburg Buffalo City
Source: Quantec Standardised Regional, 2017

What are the trends of employed, unemployed and economically inactive populations in eThekwini between 2009 and 2017?

The strict unemployment rate in Q2 2017 is 21.8%.This is higher than Q2 2016’s 19.7% unemployment rate. EThekwini has had the highest percentage of Discouraged Work Seekers, as a proportion of all its unemployed citizens, for 8 consecutive quarters running.

Download as PNG
DE11893E-9EE8-41FF-BDE8-7A1F0ACE3B5C Created with sketchtool. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Nelson Mandela Bay City of Cape Town City of Johannesburg Manguang Buffalo City City of Tswane Ekurhuleni eThekwini 2017 2nd Quarter LFS Unemployment and Discouraged Job Seeker Rates by Metro Unemployed Discouraged work-seekers *Live Data Pending
78FB6D73-2FBD-4594-B935-F8EC30611E91 Created with sketchtool. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Nelson Mandela Bay City of Cape Town City of Johannesburg Manguang Buffalo City City of Tswane Ekurhuleni eThekwini 2017 2nd Quarter LFS Unemployment and Discouraged Job Seeker Rates by Metro Unemployed Discouraged work-seekers *Live Data Pending

Insert Chart

Insert Chart

Source: QLFS, Statistics South Africa, 2017

What Factors Affect the Unemployment Rate?

The number of not economically active people has decreased between 2009 and 2017 while the number of employed and unemployed people have increased over the same time period.

Download as PNG
Source: QLFS, Statistics South Africa, 2017

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the local economy increased employment by 58 000 (5.2%) from Q2 2016 to Q2 2017, the net effect was that unemployment grew in the same period. However, it is important to note that the labour force absorption rate increased (from 47.4% to 49.4%) and the participation rate also increased (from 59.1% to 63.1%) over the same period.

This means that since last year this time, there are more people looking for employment and the likelihood of finding employment has increased, albeit marginally.

All rights reserved - Terms & Conditions

Make better informed decisions with cutting-edge economic insight