Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey has confirmed that official unemployment rose to 32.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 31.8% in the previous quarter and the highest level recorded in nearly two years. When the expanded definition — which includes those who have given up actively looking for work — is applied, the unemployment rate reaches 42.8%, meaning that nearly 11 million South Africans of working age are without employment or have stopped searching.
Youth unemployment, consistently one of the most troubling indicators in South Africa’s labour market data, worsened further in the fourth quarter. The official unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 34 stands at 45.2%, with the expanded rate approaching 60% for this age cohort. The figures underscore the structural nature of South Africa’s employment challenge, which economic growth rates of around 1-2% are wholly insufficient to address.
The survey data shows that the formal employment sector shed approximately 87,000 net jobs during the fourth quarter, concentrated in the trade, accommodation and construction industries. These sectors are particularly sensitive to consumer spending patterns, which have been suppressed by high interest rates, load shedding-related disruptions, and the ongoing erosion of disposable income.
The agricultural sector was a bright spot, adding around 24,000 seasonal jobs associated with the summer harvest in the Western Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Government employment remained broadly flat, constrained by Treasury’s ongoing wage bill consolidation requirements.
Labour economists at the Institute for Economic Justice have called for an emergency jobs stimulus package, arguing that the current trajectory — if unaddressed — risks a permanent increase in the structural unemployment rate as younger workers become increasingly disconnected from the formal economy over time.
