According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa, the official unemployment rate in South Africa decreased from 32.1% in the previous quarter to 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024, a decrease of 0.2% points.
The survey results revealed that there were 132,000 more people in employment in the fourth quarter, making the total 170.1 million. Simultaneously, the unemployment rate dropped by 20,000 to 8.0 million people.
During the same period, this helped to raise the labour force by 112,000, or 0.4%. Despite these improvements, there were 111,000 more discouraged job seekers (3.3%) and 93,000 fewer people who were not engaged in the economy for any other reason than discouragement (0.7%).
As a result, the number of people who are not economically active increased by 18,000, reaching 16 million.
“The above changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate decreasing by 0.2 of a percentage point from 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024 to 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The expanded unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2024 remained unchanged at 41.9% when compared with the third quarter of 2024,” Statistics South Africa said.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the number of people working in the formal sector rose by 90,000, while several people working in the informal sector increased by 34,000.
The two industries with the biggest employment gains were manufacturing (41,000) and finance (232, 000). 63,000 jobs were lost in community and social services, 48,000 in trade, 22,000 in construction, 18,000 in mining, 17,000 in utilities, and 11,000 in agriculture.
The findings also show that only the Free State (25,000), North West (20,000), and Limpopo (16%) saw declines in employment, while the Western Cape (62,000), KwaZulu-Natal (52,000), and Gauteng (45,000) saw the biggest increases.