Key Insights

The improvement in the rate may reflect an increase in temporary jobs over the festive season, particularly in the retail industry, said Mamello Matikinca, the chief economist at FirstRand Ltd.’s First National Bank unit, in a note before the data release. At 109,000, the finance industry added the most jobs while community and social services, which include the government, cut 51,000 positions. Africa’s most-industrialized economy hasn’t grown by more than 2 percent a year since 2013, stifling job creation. Economists, including Investec Bank Ltd.’s Kamilla Kaplan, say gross domestic product must expand by 3 percent to 5 percent annually for the unemployment rate to recede. President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged growth of as much as 5 percent a year in his campaign for leadership of the ruling African National Congress. He used his state-of-the-nation-address last week to highlight deals brokered at a presidential jobs summit, which could create 275,000 jobs a year, and plans to focus on policies in labor intensive sectors. The South African Reserve Bank said the economy probably grew by 0.7 percent in 2018 after emerging from a recession in the third quarter. DM