Pretoria - South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 25.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday.
The current data from January to March is in comparison to the last quarter of 2009 when it stood at 24.9 percent.
Stats SA said the first quarter's results show that between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 the number of those who were unemployed increased by 145 000 to about 4.3 million.
The results showed that employment contracted by 1.3 percent or 171 000 jobs between 2009's fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2010. According to the survey, the formal sector lost 140 000 jobs while the informal sector lost 100 000.
Although employment contracted in all industries, agriculture (which saw seven successive quarters of job losses) and private households created around 35 000 and 34 000 jobs respectively.
Stats SA said the unemployment rate went up for all population groups except for the Indian population.
Most provinces except the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (which respectively gained 21 000 and 9 000 jobs) experienced job losses. The Limpopo province accounted for most job losses followed by Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
The number of discouraged work seekers in the first quarter of 2010 increased to 624 000.
"These patterns suggest that there was a shift from employment into unemployment and discouragement," said Stats SA
