South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen to 32,7%, leaving more than 8 million people without work.
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South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen to 32,7%, leaving more than eight million people without work.
The latest figures were released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday during a media briefing in Pretoria.
According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2026, the number of employed people fell by 345,000 to 16,8 million, while the number of unemployed rose by 301,000 to 8,1 million compared with the last quarter of 2025.
The survey showed that most job losses occurred in the services and construction sectors, while employment in manufacturing, mining, and agriculture showed slight improvements.
This, according to Stat SA, resulted in a decrease of 44,000 (or -0,2%) in the labour force during the same period.
"In the same period, discouraged job-seekers increased by 178 000 to 3,9 million, other available job-seekers increased by 55 000 to 910 000, and unavailable job-seekers increased by 6 000 to 49 000, resulting in a total net increase of 240 000 to 4,9 million in the potential labour force population (i.e. persons who were available but not seeking or unavailable but seeking), " Stat SA said.
“The organisation also revealed that the number of people outside the labour force for other reasons decreased by 75,000 to 12,4 million.
However, when combining those in the potential labour force with others outside the labour force, the total rose by 164,000 to 17,3 million in the first quarter of 2026.
"In addition to the unemployment rate (LU1), other measures of labour underutilisation (LU) were measured. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment (LU2) increased by 1,6 percentage points to 35,9%; the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force (LU3) increased by 1,6 percentage points to 43,7% in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2026.
"The composite measure of labour underutilisation (LU4) (which combines time-related underemployment, unemployment and potential labour force as a proportion of extended labour force) was 46,3% in the first quarter of 2026. These labour underutilisation measures highlight people in different situations and with different degrees of attachment to the labour market".
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