South Africa’s official unemployment rate increased to 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, as employment growth failed to keep pace with the expanding labour force.
Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released on Tuesday, showed that the number of employed people increased by 101,000 to 16.8 million. The number of unemployed people also rose, increasing by 97,000 to 8.6 million.
The labour force — people who are employed or unemployed and actively seeking work — grew by 198,000. The unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage points from 33.6% in the second quarter, leaving just over one in three participants without work.
Formal-sector employment increased by 268,000 to 12.3 million, but losses elsewhere offset much of that gain. Employment in the informal sector fell by 98,000, while the household sector lost 68,000 jobs.
Finance, manufacturing and mining recorded employment gains. The largest industry declines were in private households, agriculture and construction.
The Western Cape, North West, Eastern Cape and Gauteng recorded the largest provincial employment increases, while employment declined in the Free State and Mpumalanga.
Youth unemployment edged down by 0.1 percentage points to 47.3%, with about five million people aged 15 to 34 unemployed. But the decline did not reflect more young people finding work: youth employment also fell by 5,000, while the number of unemployed young people decreased by 23,000.
The number of discouraged job seekers increased by 70,000. These are people available for work who are not looking because they see little prospect of finding employment. They are excluded from the official unemployment rate.