SA unemployment rises despite 101 000 new jobs

Résumé détaillé

More people entered the labour market than found employment in the third quarter.

South Africa’s official unemployment rate ticked up by 0.1 of a percentage point to 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, as more people entered the labour market than found employment.

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), the number of employed people increased by 101 000 to 16.8 million between the second and third quarters of 2026.

Over the same period, the number of unemployed people rose by 97,000 to reach 8.6 million. This contributed to a 0.8% expansion in the labour force, which grew by 198 000 people.

FNB and WesBank senior economist Thanda Sithole said that while formal hiring provided some income support, “persistently high unemployment and deteriorating broader labour-market slack suggest that improvements in household financial resilience are likely to remain gradual and uneven”.

Sectoral movements revealed a migration toward formal employment, where headcount rose by 268 000 to 12.3 million workers. By contrast, the informal sector shed 98 000 jobs, while employment in private households declined by 68 000.

These gains were partly offset by losses in other industries. Private households shed 68 000 jobs, agriculture lost 34 000, and construction employment declined by 8 000.

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At provincial level, the Western Cape recorded the largest employment increase, followed by North West, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng.

StatsSA reported that the “Western Cape (48 000), North West (45 000), Eastern Cape (36 000) and Gauteng (25 000) were provinces that observed the highest increases in employment”.

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