Unemployment rate rises to 33.6% in second quarter

South Africa's official unemployment rate rose by 0.9 of a percentage point, from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026 to 33.6% in the second quarter, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday.

Stats SA said the number of unemployed people increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million, while the number of employed people fell by 16,000 to 16.7 million compared with the first quarter. Combined, these shifts pushed the labour force up by 329,000, or 1.3%, over the same period.

Trade, construction and finance recorded the largest employment gains, adding 70,000, 39,000 and 11,000 jobs respectively.

The steepest job losses came in community and social services, down 57,000, followed by mining, and agriculture and manufacturing, each down 15,000, with mining alone shedding 26,000 positions.

By sector, formal employment fell by 41,000 and household-sector employment by 9,000, while informal sector employment rose by 34,000.

Regionally, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and the Free State posted the biggest employment gains, up 41,000, 13,000 and 9,000 respectively, while the Western Cape, Gauteng and North West saw the largest declines, down 48,000, 22,000 and 15,000.

The survey also showed a drop in the potential labour force, those available for work but not seeking it, or seeking but unavailable, which fell by a net 280,000 to 4.6 million.

This was driven mainly by a decrease of 227,000 discouraged job-seekers, now at 3.7 million, along with smaller declines among other available and unavailable job-seekers.

Those outside the labour force for other reasons rose by 72,000 to 12.5 million, while the total number of people outside the labour force overall fell by 208,000 to 17.1 million.

Youth unemployment worsened over the quarter. Stats SA reported that the number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 34 rose by 264,000 to 5.0 million, while employed youth fell by 40,000 to 5.6 million, pushing the youth unemployment rate up 1.5 percentage points to 47.4%.