Pretoria: The official unemployment rate has risen marginally by 1.3 percentage points from 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to reach 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026.

According to South African Government News Agency, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday highlighted that there was a decrease of 345,000 in the number of employed persons, bringing the total to 16.8 million. Concurrently, there was an increase of 301,000 in the number of unemployed individuals, reaching 8.1 million compared to the results from the fourth quarter of 2025. This led to a decrease of 44,000, or -0.2%, in the overall labor force during the same period.

The report also noted a decline in the number of people employed in both the formal and informal sectors. Employment in the formal sector decreased by 189,000, while the informal sector saw a reduction of 127,000 over the same period. The youth unemployment rate, which includes those between the ages of 15 and 34, also experienced an increase. The total number of unemployed youth rose by 181,000 to 4.7 million, while employed youth decreased by 258,000 to 5.6 million. Consequently, the youth unemployment rate increased by 2.0 percentage points to 45.8% in the first quarter of 2026.

Despite these challenges, certain industries recorded employment gains. The manufacturing sector saw an increase of 38,000 jobs, mining added 32,000, and agriculture grew by 10,000. However, the largest employment decreases were observed in community and social services, with a reduction of 206,000 jobs, construction with 110,000, and transport with 30,000.

Regionally, KwaZulu-Natal was the only province to record an employment increase of 6,000. Significant employment decreases were noted in North West (80,000), Gauteng (67,000), Mpumalanga (54,000), Eastern Cape (43,000), and Limpopo (43,000) during the same period.

The period also saw an increase in discouraged job-seekers by 178,000 to 3.9 million, while available job-seekers rose by 55,000 to 910,000. Unavailable job-seekers increased by 6,000 to 49,000, resulting in a total net increase of 240,000 to 4.9 million in the potential labor force population. Those outside the labor force for other reasons decreased by 75,000 to 12.4 million, leading to an increase of 164,000 in the total number of persons outside the labor force, which reached 17.3 million in the first quarter of 2026.