The unemployment rate in South Africa is one of the highest in the world - 39% in 1998 by the broad definition. Even according to the new official (narrow) definition, one in every four adults (26%) who wanted work and actively looked for it was unemployed. Moreover, the unemployment rates for different groups reveal great disparity in the incidence of unemployment by race, gender, age, education, and region. Given the importance of employment income in total household income in South Africa (Leibbrandt, Bhorat, and Woolard, 2000), the varying incidence of unemployment across different groups has important implications for the distribution of income and for the incidence of poverty.