(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s unemployment rate surged to the highest on a global list of 82 countries monitored by Bloomberg.

The jobless rate rose to 34.4% in the second quarter from 32.6% in the three months through March, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in a report released in the capital, Pretoria. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 33.2%.

Unemployment according to the expanded definition, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, rose to 44.4%.

While the unemployment rate is now the highest of the countries tracked by Bloomberg, the data from some of those nations is outdated.

Key Points:

• Finance industry lost 278,000 jobs.
• Community, social services lost 166,000 jobs.
• Manufacturing lost 83,000 jobs.
• Construction added 143,000 jobs.
• Agriculture added 69,000 jobs.

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