The number of people employed in South Africa?s non-farming sectors rose by one percent in the third quarter of 2006 compared to the second quarter, data showed yesterday. South Africa?s economic growth has accelerated over the past few years and but has not so far made a significant dent in stubbornly high unemployment, officially estimated at 25.6 percent.

The government is pushing a programme to lift annual gross domestic product growth to 6 percent by 2010 from around 5 percent now to help create jobs and slash poverty. Statistics South Africa said in a statement the non-farm sector created 73 000 jobs in the third quarter compared to the previous period, lifting the total employed in those sectors to 7.358 million people.

It also said basic gross earnings paid to employees rose by 5.4 percent in the three months to end-September, and by 11 percent to 173.6 billion in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2005.

The non-farm sectors employed 2.7 percent more employees at the end of the third quarter against the same period last year.