AGRICULTURE NEWS - In the second quarter of 2021 (Q2) South Africa’s official unemployment rate increased to its highest level since Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) started publishing its Quarterly Labour Force Survey in 2008.
Employment in the agriculture sector, however, increased 8,7% from Q1, with the sector adding 69 000 jobs in Q2, bringing the total number of people employed in primary agriculture to 862 000.
According to Stats SA, the official unemployment rate increased by 1,8 percentage points from 32,6% in the first quarter of 2021 to 34,4%, while the unemployment rate according to the expanded definition of unemployment increased by 1,2 percentage points to 44,4%.
Employment in the farming sector was now at its highest level in more than a year, almost on par with the previous high of 865 000 in Q1 of 2020.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly
