The jobless rate in South Africa remained at 26.7% for the first quarter of the year, unchanged from the previous quarter, according to the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey by Statistics South Africa.

Results from the labour force survey showed that the South African working-age population increased by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. The number of employed persons (206,000) went up as did the number of unemployed (up 100,000). This led to a rise in the labour force participation rate from 58.8% in Q4 to 59.3% in Q1.

Meanwhile, of the 10.3 million persons aged (15-24 years), 32.4% were not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the first quarter of 2018. This suggests that nearly one in three young South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 years were disengaged from the labour market. Compared to the first quarter of 2017, the NEET rate remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2018.