South Africa's unemployment rate edged lower to 34.5% in the first quarter of 2022 from 35.3% in the final quarter of last year, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Statistics South Africa said the number of unemployed totalled 7.862 million people in the three months to end-March, compared with 7.921 million people in the previous three months.

According to an expanded definition of unemployment that includes those discouraged from seeking work, 45.5% of the labour force was without work in the first quarter, from 46.2% in the prior quarter.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo Editing by Alexander Winning)