Unemployment rate jumps to 33.5%, highest since 2022

This is the highest in two years. 

Statistics South Africa announced the Quarterly Labour Force Survey on Tuesday morning.

Compared to the first quarter, the expanded unemployment rate [which includes those who have given up on searching for a job] in the second quarter increased by 0.7% to  42.6%.

"Discouraged work-seekers increased by 147,000, while the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 75,000 between the two quarters,” said the Director of Labour Statistics, Dihlolelo Phoshoko.

“This led to an increase of 72,000 in the number of the not economically active persons to 16.3 million in the second quarter of 2024," added Phoshoko.

Phoshoko said the formal sector employment decreased by 77,000 in the second quarter, while informal sector employment increased by 48,000 over the same period.

"In the second quarter,  employment decreases were in the trade (111,000), agriculture (45,000), private households (182,000), construction (11,000) and finance (9,000) industries.

“Increases in employment were mainly recorded in manufacturing (49,000), community and social services (36,000) and utilities (9,000).”

The results also indicate that the largest decreases in employment were experienced in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

This is while the largest increases were observed in Gauteng, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

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