South Africa’s unemployment rate increased by 7.5 percentage points to 30.8% in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the second quarter, according to data from Statistics South Africa. In the second quarter, the official unemployment rate decreased from 30.1% in the first quarter of 2020 to a record low of 23.3%. However, the country was under a hard lockdown in the second quarter of the year, with prospective job seekers unable to look for work.