South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 32.7% in the first quarter, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The number of unemployed people increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million, while employment declined by 16,000 to 16.7 million.
The labour force grew by 329,000 to reflect the changes in employment and unemployment.
The number of discouraged job-seekers fell by 227,000 to 3.7 million, resulting in a 280,000 decline in the potential labour force to 4.6 million.
Meanwhile, the broader labour underutilisation rate (LU4) remained unchanged at 46.3%, while LU2 increased to 36.6% and LU3 rose to 43.8%.
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