Analysts polled by Reuters expected the unemployment rate to edge up to 25.3 per cent in the first quarter. South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 26.7 percent of the labour force in the first quarter of this year from 24.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015, data from the statistics office showed on Monday. In its quarterly labour force survey which polls households, Statistics South Africa said this amounted to 5.714 million people without jobs in the first quarter compared with 5.2 million previously. The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, was at 36.3 per cent in the first three months of the year, versus 33.8 per cent previously.

Source: The Star May 09, 2016 04:48 UTC