“Even with the drop in the levels of the unemployed, the total number of unemployed persons remained high at 4.1 million persons,” said Stats SA, adding that 68 percent of those who were unemployed were in long term unemployment as they were unemployed for a year or even longer.

According to the survey, the formal sector gained 120 000 while the informal sector gained 53 000 jobs between quarter three and four. The agriculture sector lost 13 000 jobs, while private households remained virtually unchanged.

Black South Africans in the fourth quarter had the highest unemployment rate at 28.1 percent, followed by coloured people at 21.3 percent. Indian and white people had the lowest unemployment rate at 7.9 and 5.5 percent respectively. For youth as well as women, unemployment remained higher than the national average.

The community and social services and manufacturing industries contributed the most to employment, with increases of 5.5 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.

The year-on-year estimates show that between 2009 and 2010, employment contracted by 1.2 percent or 118 000 jobs, according to the survey.

In its morning shee,t Absa Capital said it expected the numbers to continue to reflect relatively challenging labour market conditions.