S Africa jobless rate drops to 24.9 %

South Africa's jobless rate dropped slightly from 25.2 percent to 24.9 percent in the second quarter of 2012 with new employment created in the formal sector, official data said Tuesday. According to the statistics agency, the total number of unemployed people inched down to 4.47 million from 4.5 million, but the decline is likely to have little impact on the economy which is reeling from a global economic downturn. The mining and agriculture sector were major contributors to job creation, with the Gauteng province, the country's economic hub, registering the biggest number of new jobs, said Statistics South Africa. According to the agency, the economy has created 472,000 jobs since the third quarter of 2010, not enough to recoup the million jobs lost during the 2009 recession. Unemployment remains the biggest threat to the growth of the continental powerhouse and the jobless rate reached 33.4 percent if discouraged job seekers were included in the official statistics. Earlier this year, the South African government announced a large infrastructure project to boost employment.