South Africa’s official unemployment rate increased slightly during the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
The country’s unemployment rate rose by 1.3 percentage points, climbing from 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026.
Stats SA said employment figures declined significantly during the reporting period.
“[There] was a decrease of 345 000 in the number of employed persons to 16.8 million, while there was an increase of 301 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8.1 million compared with Q4: 2025 results.
“This resulted in a decrease of 44 000 [or -0,2%] in the labour force during the same period,” Stats SA said.
Youth Unemployment Continues To Rise
The youth unemployment rate, which measures unemployment among people aged between 15 and 34 years, also increased during the first quarter of 2026.
According to Stats SA, the number of unemployed youth rose by 181 000 to reach 4.7 million. At the same time, the number of employed young people decreased by 258 000 to 5.6 million.
“As a result, the youth unemployment rate increased by 2.0 percentage points to 45.8% in the first quarter of 2026,” Stats SA said.
Formal And Informal Sector Jobs Decline
The survey revealed that both the formal and informal sectors experienced job losses during the quarter.
Employment in the formal sector declined by 189 000 jobs, while the informal sector recorded a decrease of 127 000 jobs.
However, some industries managed to record employment growth.
“Increases in industry employment were recorded in Manufacturing [38 000], Mining [32 000] and Agriculture [10 000]. The largest decreases in employment were recorded in Community and social service [206 000], Construction [110 000] and Transport [30 000].
“KwaZulu-Natal [6 000] is the only province that observed an increase in employment. The largest employment decreases were recorded in North West [80 000], Gauteng [67 000], Mpumalanga [54 000], Eastern Cape [43 000] and Limpopo [43 000] during the same period,” Stats SA added.
Increase In Discouraged Work-Seekers
The number of discouraged work-seekers also increased during the first quarter of 2026.
Stats SA reported that discouraged job-seekers increased by 178 000 to 3.9 million, while available job-seekers increased 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 labour force population [persons who were available but not seeking or unavailable but seeking].
“Those outside the labour force for other reasons decreased by 75 000 to 12.4 million. Persons outside the labour force, which is the total of those in the potential labour force and others outside the labour force, increased by 164 000 to 17.3 million in the first quarter of 2026,” the statistical agency said.
Additional reporting from SANews.gov.za
