Ramaphosa is trying to revive the South African economy, the continent's most industrialised, after a decade of slow growth and rising joblessness.

The former union leader turned business tycoon put job creation at the centre of his African National Congress (ANC) party's campaign for last week's election, which returned the ANC to power but with a reduced majority in parliament.

Unemployment was 27.1pc in the fourth quarter of 2018.

South Africa's statistics agency said decreases in employment were observed in most sectors of the economy in the first three months of 2019.

The construction industry saw the largest decrease, followed by finance.

There were 6.2 million people without jobs in the three months to the end of March, compared with 6.1 million people in the prior quarter.

The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, rose to 38pc in the first quarter from 37.0pc in the previous quarter.

The ANC's 57.5pc share of the vote was its worst parliamentary election result since it swept to power at the end of apartheid in 1994.

Unemployment was a major worry for South African voters in the weeks leading up to the elections, opinion polls showed.