According to the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) on Tuesday, total employment rose by 18,000 jobs, or 0.2%, between September and December 2025.
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South Africa’s formal sector recorded a slight uptick in employment in the final quarter of 2025, but economists and labour groups warn that the improvement may be short-lived amid mounting economic headwinds.
According to the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) on Tuesday, total employment rose by 18,000 jobs, or 0.2%, between September and December 2025.
While the increase offers some relief in a persistently weak labour market, the gains were uneven and accompanied by notable declines in key sectors.
StatsSA noted that the increase in employment was due to increases in trade by 1.6% and business services by 0.7%, while electricity remained unchanged.
“However, there were decreases reported by the following industries: with construction recording the most at 13,000, manufacturing community services, transport, and mining also recorded decreases.”
StatsSA added that full-time employment increased by 14,000 or 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, from 9,000 in September to December 2025.
“This was due to increases in the following sectors with trade increasing the most at 23,000. Increases were also noted in business services, community services construction also recorded the most decreases at 8,000, with transport recording 5,000 and manufacturing , and mining also recording decreases."
StatsSA said that full-time employment decreased by 69,000 or -0.7% year-on-year between December 2024 and December 2025.
“Part-time employment increased by 4,000 or 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, September 2025 to December 2025. This was due to increases in the following industries: trade again recorded the highest employment at 14,000 while business services transport also recorded increases," it said.
"However, there were decreases reported by the following industries: community services manufacturing and construction.”
StatsSA added that part-time employment fell by 33,000 or -2.9% year-on-year between December 2024 and December 2025.
“Gross earnings paid to employees increased by R74.7 billion or 7.4% from R1.01 trillion in September 2025 to R1.08trln in December 2025. This was due to increases in the following industries: community services, business services, trade, manufacturing, construction, transport, electricity, and mining.”
Matthew Parks, Parlimentary coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said that they welcome an increase in employment.
“However we fear that we may soon see jobs being shed with the massive fuel tax increases and the devastating impact this will have on an already weak economy. We appreciate the R3 a litre tax relief from the government, but this will not be sufficient. More relief is needed,” he said.
Parks added that particular support must be provided by the State to struggling businesses and sectors due to the 30% tariff duty imposed on South African exports to the United States, increasingly unaffordable electricity, and other economic challenges.
“Such support must come in the form of tax relief, industrial subsidies, and fixing the mind-numbing delays at the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employment Relief Scheme," Parks said.
"It is critical that the 2026/27 Budget and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework respond to these challenges and provide a bold stimulus package to take the economy to the 3% growth rate needed to slash unemployment.”
Investec economist, Lara Hodes, said that formal sector employment rose by 0.2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis (18,000 positions added) to 10.55 million in December 2025.
“A breakdown of the data indicates that full-time employees made up the majority of the hires during the quarter (14,000), while a limited number of part-time jobs were added.”
Hodes added that the trade sector added the largest number of positions during the quarter, with 23,000 full-time positions and 14,000 part-time jobs added, with additional employees hired during the seasonally significant festive period.
“Sentiment amongst retailers rebounded in Q4 2025, according to the BER’s retail survey. Further gains were logged in the business services sector, while job growth in the electricity segment remained unchanged over the quarter," she said.
"The other sectors surveyed, however, shed jobs overall in the last quarter of 2025. Specifically, the construction and manufacturing sectors shed -13,000 and -11,000 positions respectively.”
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