From 5.1 million to 8.4 million jobless South Africans in a decade
Contrary to analysts’ expectations of a South African official unemployment rate below 32% for Q2:2024, Statistics SA (Stats SA) reported an unemployment rate of 33.5% for the second quarter of 2026. (The Stats SA report covers labour market activities of persons aged 15 to 64 years.)
The figure for Q2:2024 reflects an increase of 0.60 percentage points from the official unemployment rate of 32.9% for the first quarter. Quarter 2 of 2026 is the fourth consecutive quarter of a rising unemployment rate: Q3:2023 – 31.9%, Q4:2023 – 32.1%, Q1:2024 – 32.9%, Q2:2024 – 33.5%.
However, the figure for Q2:2024 is still 1.80 percentage points lower than the record-high unemployment rate of 35.3%, reported for the fourth quarter of 2021 during the Covid-19 crisis. Although a poor consolation, because South Africa has the highest unemployment rate in Africa and one of the highest globally.
The country’s alarming high and deteriorating unemployment crisis is a ticking time bomb, a grave and worrying situation, endangering an already fragile socio-economic status. A situation expressed in publication headlines such as:
- Associated Press (AP) – August 15, 2023: ‘South Africa’s unemployment is a ‘ticking time bomb.’ Anger rises with millions jobless’
- The Conversation – July 17, 2026: ‘South Africa has a joblessness crisis: fixing it will take fresh thinking to find a game-changer’
- BUSINESSTECH – 14 August 2026: ‘South Africa’s 30-year employment disaster’
Some hard facts of South Africa’s unemployment crisis
- The number of South Africans who experienced the trauma of losing their jobs during April, May, and June 2026 was 158,000. There are now 462,000 more South Africans without a job than a year ago.
- As of the end of June, 8.4 million South Africans were jobless, compared to 5.2 million in 2014, an increase of 3.2 million unemployed South Africans – an average of 320,000 per year.
- The expanded unemployment rate (including people between the ages of 15 and 64 who are jobless, willing, and able to work but are not actively pursuing employment) displays a dire situation, standing at 42.6% nationally. This is an increase of 0.7% compared to Q1:2024 and 0.5% over the last year.
According to Stats SA, all provinces recorded an increase in the expanded unemployment rate, excluding Limpopo where the rate decreased by 0.7 of a percentage point, and Free State where the rate remained unchanged. The Northern Cape recorded the largest increase (3.2 percentage points).
- The NEET (not in employment, education, or training) unemployment rate is also going in the wrong direction. The NEET rate measures unemployment amongst young South Africans (ages 15 to 34). The current NEET rate is 44.2%, an increase of 0.4% from quarter 1 of 2026, and a considerable increase from 2023 – 0.08%.
In Q2:2024 the NEET rate for females was 46.7%, compared to 41.7% for males.
Stats SA stated a sobering fact concerning young South Africans, reporting: ‘In both Q2:2023 and Q2:2024, more than four in every ten young people were not in employment, education, or training.’
Job losses in terms of employment sectors
Comparing stats of Q2:2024 with Q1:2024 (quarter-to-quarter change in brackets), job losses in terms of employment sectors look as follows:
- Formal sector (non-agricultural): 77 000 losses (-0.7%)
- Agricultural sector: 45 000 losses (-4.8%)
- Private households: 18 000 losses (-1.5%)
- Informal sector (non-agricultural): Increase of 48 000 jobs (1.5%)
Unemployment by industry
Comparing stats of Q2:2024 with those of Q1:2024 (quarter-to-quarter change in brackets), job losses/increases in terms of employment by industry, the figures are:
- Trade incurred 111 000 job losses (-3.2%)
- Manufacturing reported an increase of 49 000 jobs (3.0%)
Employment by occupation
- Observing employment by occupation, six out of the ten occupational categories experienced job losses in Q2:2024 compared with Q1:2024. The largest losses occurred in Plant and machine occupations (260 000 – 16.6% larger than Q1:2024), Sales and services (161 000 – 5.9% larger than Q1:2024), and Professional occupation (127 000 – downward 10.3% compared to Q1:2024).
- Contrarily, the following three occupations experienced employment gains: Elementary occupations (249 000 – 6.5% increase compared to Q1:2024), Technician (190 000 – 11.9% improvement from Q1:2024), and Manager (148 000 – 11.3% increase from Q1:2024).
Unemployment per province
Assessed by provinces, the three provinces which suffered the largest employment losses during Q2:2024 (compared to Q1:2024) are:
- Western Cape (65 0000) (Qtr-to-qtr change: -2.4%)
- Mpumalanga (50 000) (Qtr-to-qtr change: -4.0%)
- KwaZulu-Natal (49 000) (Qtr-to-qtr change: -1.7%)
- Gauteng was the province which recorded the largest increase in employment, 42,000, a quarter-to-quarter change of 0.8%).
The table below illustrates the differences between the 9 provinces regarding the official unemployment rate and the expanded unemployment rate. The rates of the provinces are also compared with the national rates:
| Province/Country | Official rate | Expanded rate | Difference: Official rate-expanded rate |
| North West | 41.3% | 54.2% | 12.9% |
| Eastern Cape | 41.0% | 49.7% | 8.7% |
| Free State | 37.6% | 45.1% | 7.5% |
| Mpumalanga | 37.4% | 48.7% | 11.3% |
| Gauteng | 35.1% | 39.2% | 4.1% |
| RSA | 33.5% | 42.6% | 9.1% |
| Northern Cape | 32.0% | 44.9% | 12.9% |
| Limpopo | 31.4% | 47.1% | 15.7% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 31.1% | 44.9% | 13.8% |
| Western Cape | 22.2% | 27.3% | 5.1% |
Source: Statistics SA
Notes to the table:
- The official unemployment rates of five of the provinces are larger than the national rate of 33.5%.
- Only two provinces (Western Cape and Gauteng) reported a lower expanded unemployment rate than the national rate of 42.6%.
- The averages of the unemployment rates of the provinces are:
- Official rate: 34.34%
- Expanded rate: 44.37%
- The medians of the rates of the provinces are as follows:
- Official rate: 35.1%
- Expanded rate: 45.1%
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