SA's jobless rate eases to 5-year low as formal jobs rise, but youth remain under pressure

South Africa’s official unemployment rate declined slightly in the fourth quarter of 2025, as modest employment gains and a drop in the number of unemployed persons helped ease labour market pressures.

This is according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2025 released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) on Tuesday.

This unemployment reading marked the second quarterly consecutive decline and was the lowest reading since the third quarter of 2020.

StatsSA said the number of employed persons increased by 44,000 to 17.1 million in the quarter, while the number of unemployed persons fell by 172 000 to 7.8 million compared with the third quarter.

As a result, the labour force shrank by 128,000 (0.5%) over the same period.

"These changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate decreasing by 0.5 of a percentage point to 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025," StatsSA said.

"In addition to unemployment rate, other labour underutilisation indicators were introduced from the third quarter of 2025. The indicators are the combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment which decreased by 0.6 of a percentage point to 34.3%."

However, broader measures of labour market distress paint a more complex picture.

Discouraged work-seekers, individuals who want to work but have stopped actively looking for employment, increased by 233,000 to 3.7 million.

At the same time, other available job-seekers declined by 110,000 to 855,000, and unavailable job-seekers fell by 41,000 to 42,000.

Overall, the potential labour force population rose by a net 82,000 to 4.6 million.

The number of people classified as “other not economically active” increased by 165,000 to 12.5 million. Combined with the potential labour force, the total number of people outside the labour force rose by 248,000 to 17.1 million in the fourth quarter.

The broadest composite measure, which includes time-related underemployment, unemployment and the potential labour force as a proportion of the extended labour force, stood at 44.5% in the fourth quarter. These indicators underscore the persistent scale of labour market underutilisation, despite the headline improvement.

Sectoral shifts were pronounced. Formal sector employment rose sharply by 320,000, while informal sector employment declined by 293,000. The data suggests a rebalancing towards more formalised employment, although the overall net gain remained modest.

The number of persons employed in the formal sector increased by 320,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025 and those employed in informal sector decreased by 293,000 over the same period.

By industry, total employment increased quarter on quarter was driven by community and social services with 46,000, construction with 35,000 and finance with 32,000.

Conversely, significant job losses were observed in trade with 98,000, manufacturing with 61,000, and mining with 5,000.

Youth remain particularly vulnerable. Among those aged 15 to 34 years, the number of unemployed youth declined by 84,000 to 4.6 million in the fourth quarter.

However, youth employment also fell by 113,000 to 5.8 million. As a result, the youth unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage point to 43.8%.

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