THE OFFICIAL unemployment rate in the Eastern Cape dropped between September 2001 and February 2002, according to Statistics South Africa. This is in the face of an increase in the official unemployment rate in all provinces except Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. The province showed the biggest drop in unemployment – from around 32 per cent to 28 per cent. This is below the official unemployment rate of 29.4 per cent for the country. The survey covers people in the 15 to 65-year age group. According to the report, were an estimated 27.7 million people aged between 15 and 65 years in South Africa in February 2002. Of these, 16.1 million were economically active, of whom 11.4 million were employed, and 4.7 million were unemployed. In addition, 11.5 million were not economically active, of whom 4.8 million were full-time scholars, 1.1 million were full-time homemakers, 1.2 million were disabled or chronically ill, hence unable to work, 0.8 million were either too young or too old to work, and 0.3 million were retired. The remainder were not economically active for other reasons.