According to the Employment Survey in Angola (IEA) for the second quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate rose by four percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2019, with a total of 4,737,747 unemployed.
The survey revealed that the unemployment rate "was estimated at 32.7 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter (32.0 percent) and 4.0 percentage points over the same quarter (28, 7 percent) ".
"In the second quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate of the population aged 15 or over increased by 0.7 percentage points. The unemployed population aged 15 or over increased by 0.05 percent compared to the first quarter of 2020, corresponding to an increase of 2290 people ", highlighted the note.
INE also reported that the inactive population aged 15 or more increased by 14.3 percent (257,350 people) compared to the first three months of the year.
The report also explained that due to the covid-19 pandemic, 2.7 percent of the employed population was absent from work in the second quarter of 2020, which represented 266,265 people out of a total of 9,751,457.
The note stressed that "the indicators on the labor market show some evidence marked by the impact of the covid-19 pandemic".
"In the current situation, people in the previous quarters classified as unemployed and people who actually lost their job due to the pandemic can, in this quarter, be classified as inactive. Failure to start work, for reasons related to the pandemic, can lead to to the increase of the inactive population ", he pointed out.
According to the survey's indicators, "likewise, people previously classified as employed can now be considered unemployed or inactive".
"Thus, the quarterly decrease in the employed population and the increase in the unemployed population, observed in the second quarter of 2020 (although the collection only covers the months of May and June, the sample is representative at national level), can be partially explained by this context and reflected in the decrease of the active population and in the increase of the inactive population ", he pointed out.
INE revealed that despite the pandemic situation, it will "make every effort to maintain the production and quarterly disclosure of data" and expects to release the next edition, referring to the third quarter of 2020, at the end of October.
