The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) from Stats SA shows that South Africa’s unemployment rate has increased again, jumping to 33.2% in Q2.
This is up fromt he 32.9% recorded in the first quarter of 2025, which itself was higher than the 31.9% recorded in the quarter before.
The QLFS for the second quarter of the year revealed that the country saw 159,000 more people enter the workforce between April and June 2025.
However, only 19,000 were employed over the period, and 140,000 were unemployed.
Discouraged work-seekers decreased by 28,000 (down by 0.8%), and the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement remained unchanged.
This resulted in the unemployment rate increasing by 0.3 percentage points to 33.2%.
The expanded unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2025 decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 42.9% when compared with the first quarter of 2025, which was 43.1%.
According to Stats SA, the number of persons employed in the formal sector increased by 34,000 in
Q2: 2025, and the informal sector employment decreased by 19,000 over the same period.
The largest industry increases in employment were recorded in Trade (88,000), Private households (28,000) and Construction (20,000).
Decreases in employment were recorded in Community and social services (42,000), Agriculture (24,000), Finance (24,000), Transport (15,000), Utilities (6,000) and Manufacturing (5,000).
The results also indicate that the highest increases in employment were observed in Gauteng (95,000) and Eastern Cape (89,000), while decreases were observed in Western Cape (117,000), KwaZulu-Natal (86,000) and Northern Cape (28,000).
Stats SA announced earlier this week that it will be revising and reviewing certain aspects of its surveys to better capture information around South Africa’s informal sector.
This followed engagements between minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, and senior representatives from National Treasury and former Capitec Bank CEO Gerrie Fourie.
Fourie had previously raised issues around Stats SA’s coverage of the informal sector, questioning the overall unemployment figures.
He posited that the informal sector was widely undercounted, and the unemployment in South Africa was likely closer to 10% than the near 33% put forward by Stats SA.
While Stats SA has defended its published data and methodology, it said that it is open to exploring the development of a statistical register for small-scale and informal businesses, which he said would strengthen the quality and granularity of labour market data.
To this end, it said that it is now evaluating additional statistical tools, including a register for informal enterprises.
If implemented, this register will complement the QLFS and serve as a valuable sampling frame for improved labour market analysis, it said.
In the latest data, the informal sector (non-agricultural) was recorded at about 3.3 million people, or roughly 20% of total employment in the country.
Stats SA’s data maintains that the formal sector remains the largest contributor to total employment in South Africa, while private households and agriculture make up the balance.
