Unemployment rate in South Africa rises to 33,2%. Image: ENCA
(The Post News)- South Africa’s official unemployment rate increased to 33.2% in the second quarter of 2025, up by 0.3% from 32.9% in the first quarter, reported the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released on Tuesday, 12 August 2025.
QLFS data show that the number of employed people increased slightly by 19,000 to 16.8 million. However, the number of unemployed people increased by 140,000 to 8.4 million.
Discouraged work-seekers dropped by 28,000 (0.8%), while the number of people not economically active for other reasons remained unchanged. This brought the total of the not economically active population down to 16.6 million. This resulted in the unemployment rate increasing by 0.3 percentage points to 33.2%. The expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged work-seekers, decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 42.9% from 43.1% in Q1.
Stats SA revealed that formal sector employment increased by 34,000, while informal sector jobs decreased by 19,000. Job gains were recorded in Trade (+88,000), Private Households (+28,000), and Construction (+20,000). Conversely, job losses occurred in Community and Social Services (-42,000), Agriculture (-24,000), Finance (-24,000), Transport (-15,000), Utilities (-6,000), and Manufacturing (-5,000).
According to QLFS data, Gauteng and Eastern Cape recorded the largest employment increases, with 95,000 and 89,000 jobs, respectively. In contrast to that, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Northern Cape had a large number of job losses.
The report also indicates that youth unemployment in South Africa remains a challenging crisis. The number of unemployed people aged 15–34 increased by 39,000 to 4.9 million, while employed youth increased by 31,000 to 5.7 million. The youth unemployment rate held steady at 46.1%.
Stats SA notes that while certain industries and provinces showed signs of resilience, the increasingly high unemployment rate, specifically among the youth, continues to be a major economic concern.
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