JOHANNESBURG, May 13 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's official unemployment rate increased to 32.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Quarterly Labor Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital.

"The movements that we have seen indicate that those that were employed in the fourth quarter of 2024 were sitting at 17.1 million. Now, out of those that were employed at the time, we have lost 291,000, and we're sitting now at 16.8 million," said Risenga Maluleke, head of Stats SA.

The data show that the official unemployment rate rose by 1.0 percentage point, from 31.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 32.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025.

Maluleke further said the expanded unemployment rate also increased by 1.2 percentage points, from 41.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 43.1 percent in the first quarter of 2025. The expanded definition of unemployment includes discouraged job seekers.

Maluleke said employment in the formal sector declined by 245,000 in the first quarter, while the informal sector lost over 17,000 jobs during the same period.

Economic sectors that recorded job gains included transportation, finance, and utilities, while job losses were reported in trade, construction, private households, community and social services, and the mining industry.

The report also showed that young people aged 15 to 34 remained "vulnerable in the labor market," as their unemployment increased by 151,000 in the first quarter. ■