(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s unemployment rate plunged to the lowest in 11 years in the second quarter as one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic shuttered all but essential economic activity and prevented people who were fired from looking for jobs.The jobless rate fell to 23.3% from 30.1% in the three months through March, Statistics South Africa said in a report released Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria. The median estimate of 10 economists in a Bloomberg survey was 34.9%. Unemployment according to the expanded defition rose to 42%.

Restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus put the economy into its longest recession in 28 years, with gross domestic product contracting more than expected in the second quarter. Most businesses were shut for five weeks from March 27 and some cut wages, reduced staff or closed down permanently because of the lockdown.

The number of people who are officially unemployed fell by 2.8 million to 4.3 million, and the employed dropped by 2.2 million to 14.1 million, according to the report. The number of non-economically active people rose by 5.2 million to 20.6 million.

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