Unemployment remained at 27.7% in the September quarter‚ Statistics SA reported on Tuesday. This marked a deterioration from the 27.1% for the same quarter in 2016.

The number of employed people increased by about 92‚000 from the June quarter‚ but this failed to reduce the overall unemployment level‚ because the working-age population increased by about 156‚000 people.

Seven of the 10 sectors into which Stats SA segments its labour survey reported growth in people employed.

The best growth sector for jobs was finance and other business services‚ which added 68‚000 employees during the quarter. However‚ manufacturing shed about 50‚000 jobs‚ construction about 30‚000‚ and agriculture about 25‚000.

The youth unemployment rate remained at 38.6% for people aged between 15 and 34. Unemployment was high‚ at 32.6%‚ among people who had less than a matric-level education.

Unemployment decreased significantly in the Free State by 2.6 percentage points‚ in Limpopo by 1.7 percentage points and in Mpumalanga by 1.6 percentage points.