The official unemployment rate has increased by 1% to reach 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025.

This is according to Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey released this morning.

“There was a decrease of 291 000 in the number of employed persons to 16.8 million from 17.1 million in Q4: 2024, while there was an increase of 237 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8.2 million. This resulted in a decrease of 54 000 [down by 0.2%] in the labour force during the same period.

“Discouraged work-seekers increased by 7 000 [up by 0.2%], and the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 177 000 [up by 1.4%] between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. This led to an increase of 184 000 in the number of the not economically active population, to 16.7 million,” Stats SA said.

The expanded unemployment rate increased by 1.2 percentage points to 43.1%.

“The number of persons employed in the formal sector decreased by 245 000 in Q1: 2025, and informal sector employment increased by 17 000 over the same period. The largest industry increases in employment were recorded in transport [67 000], finance [60 000], and utilities [35 000].

“Decreases in employment were recorded in trade [194 000], construction [119 000], private households [68 000], community and social services [45 000], and mining [35 000],” the institution said.

The provincial breakdown of increases and decreases in employment is as follows:

• Western Cape: 49 000 increase
• Gauteng: 9 000 increase
• Free State: 4 000 increase
• KwaZulu-Natal: 104 000 decrease
• Eastern Cape: 83 000 decrease
• North West: 57 000 decrease
• Limpopo: 55 000 decrease
• Mpumalanga: 43 000 decrease
• Northern Cape: 12 000 decrease

The institution highlighted that South African youth remain ‘vulnerable in the labour market’.

“The results for the first quarter of 2025 show that the total number of unemployed youth increased by 151 000 to 4.8 million, while employed youth recorded a decrease of 153 000 to 5.7 million.

“As a result, the youth unemployment rate increased from 44.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025,” Stats SA said. – SAnews.gov.za

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