South Africa’s official unemployment rate has increased slightly from 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026 to 33.7% in the third quarter.
This is according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released on Tuesday.
Stats SA Deputy Director Dimakatso Maloka said: “Employment increased by 101,000 persons to 16.8 million. The main industries that contributed to the increase in employment were finance, manufacturing and mining.”
However, the number of unemployed people also increased by 97,000, bringing the total number of unemployed people in the country to approximately 8.6 million.
“This resulted in an increase of 198,000 (or 0.8%) in the labour force during the same period,” Stats SA said.
Despite the increase in employment, the latest figures show that South Africa continues to face significant challenges in addressing unemployment.
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