Women wash their laundry at an open air wash place in South Africa's Soweto township
© AFP/File Alexander Joe

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - "Everyday I send applications to different companies to no avail," said the 32-year-old who graduated as a librarian five years ago but has never worked in her chosen profession.

The mother of two last worked as a supermarket cashier. As a black women she falls into a group that has an unemployment rate eight times that of white men.

Labour figures released Thursday from South Africa's central statistics arm showed a fractional dip overall in the unemployment rate by 0.4 percent to 23.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008.

But while the number of workers rose slightly, the indicators point to employment rates that remain racially skewed in favour of whites, the minority group who ruled apartheid South Africa until 1994.

While joblessness among white South Africans is just 4.6 percent, it affects 12.7 percent of Indians and 19.5 percent of mixed race or coloureds.

Female members of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions
© AFP/File Rodger Bosch

Twenty-seven percent, or more than one in four, of black South Africans aged between 15 and 64 years old are not working - a figure that goes up to nearly one in every three for black women.

Professor Vasu Reddy said this was not surprising and explained that the roots of the problem go back to the country's discriminatory past when policies were actually aimed at suppressing the black majority.

"Even though we're 14 years into democracy, we still have the historical legacy of economic imbalance whilst there is political power," said the expert from the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria.

Black women had the least access to economic and educational resources and the least skills to allow them entry into broad economic participation, Veddy added.

Kimani Ndungu, a senior researcher from the National Labour and Economic Development Institute agreed: "For a long time women have always been an the receiving end of the unemployment scourge."

In addition, the majority of unskilled black women did menial jobs in the low paying informal sector, he added.

Analysts said the marginal decline in joblessness was no cause for celebration as the country is currently battling with a shortage of skills and slowing economic growth.

Additionally the overall increase of 100,000 workers in the second quarter painted a "bleak future" for thousands of job seekers, Ndungu said.

South African women work the swamps
© AFP/File Alexander Joe

The government was unlikely to meet its target of reducing unemployment rate to 14 percent by 2014, he added.

Russel Lamberti, an analyst with Econometrix, said: "The dip may be small but it is an indication that we are still facing a big challenge in terms of creating sustainable economic growth."

South Africa's annual rate of inflation, driven by higher costs for power, food and transport rose to 13.4 percent in July, its highest level since 2002, the statistics agency said Wednesday.

Chief economist with financial services company, Dawie Roodt, said any improvement of the unemployment figures was welcome as South Africa had experienced "very slim" economic growth in the past year.

The number of economically inactive persons rose by 67,000 from 12.8 million in first quarter of 2008 to 12.9 million.

Last month, a report by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said South Africa's high unemployment was the "most disappointing aspect of post-apartheid economic performance, particularly for less-skilled younger blacks.

©AFP