Pretoria:South Africa’s official unemployment rate saw a minor increase, rising by 0.1 percentage point to 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, as reported in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).
According to South African Government News Agency, the number of employed people grew by 101,000 to reach 16.8 million, while the number of unemployed individuals increased by 97,000 to total 8.6 million compared to the previous quarter. This growth in employment and unemployment led to an overall increase of 198,000, or 0.8%, in the labour force during the same period.
Discouraged job-seekers, those who have stopped looking for work, increased by 70,000 to 3.7 million, while the number of other available job-seekers decreased slightly by 1,000 to 860,000. The number of those unavailable for work remained constant at 44,000. Consequently, there was a net increase of 69,000 in the potential labour force, totaling 4.6 million people.
Meanwhile, the number of individuals outside the labour force for other reasons dropped by 150,000 to 12.4 million, leading to an overall decrease of 82,000 in those outside the labour force, bringing the total to 17.0 million in the third quarter of 2026.
The survey also assessed labour underutilisation measures alongside the official unemployment rate. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment (LU2) saw a decrease by 0.1 percentage point to 36.5%, while the combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force (LU3) increased by 0.2 percentage points to 44.0%. The composite measure of labour underutilisation (LU4) remained steady at 46.3% during the third quarter.
Employment in the formal sector increased significantly by 268,000 to 12.3 million. In contrast, employment in the informal sector and household sector saw declines of 98,000 and 68,000, respectively. Industry employment witnessed notable increases in Finance (111,000), Manufacturing (33,000), and Mining (31,000). However, Private households, Agriculture, and Construction sectors experienced employment decreases of 68,000, 34,000, and 8,000, respectively.
Provincial employment gains were led by the Western Cape with an increase of 48,000, followed by North West (45,000), Eastern Cape (36,000), and Gauteng (25,000). Conversely, employment in the Free State and Mpumalanga fell by 34,000 and 30,000, respectively. The number of unemployed youth aged 15–34 decreased by 23,000 to 5.0 million, while employed youth numbers dropped by 5,000 to 5.5 million, resulting in a youth unemployment rate decrease of 0.1 percentage point to 47.3%.
