South Africa's official unemployment rate reached 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting a 0.6 percentage point rise from 32.9% in the first quarter, according to Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).
The situation is even more concerning when considering the expanded unemployment rate, which climbed by 0.7 percentage points to 42.6% in Q2 2024.
The QLFS results also reveal a reduction in the number of employed individuals by 92,000, bringing the total to 16.7 million in Q2 2024.
Simultaneously, the number of unemployed persons increased by 158,000, reaching 8.4 million.
These changes contributed to a 66,000 increase (up by 0.3%) in the labour force.
The number of discouraged work-seekers rose by 147,000 (a 4.8% increase), while those not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 75,000 (a 0.6% decline) between the two quarters.
As a result, the total number of economically inactive persons grew by 72,000, totalling 16.3 million in the second quarter.
In terms of employment sectors, formal sector employment fell by 77,000 in Q2 2024, while informal sector employment saw a modest increase of 48,000.
Job losses were most pronounced in the Trade (111,000), Agriculture (45,000), Private Households (182,000), Construction (11,000), and Finance (9,000) sectors.
Conversely, employment gains were recorded in Manufacturing (49,000), Community and Social Services (36,000), and Utilities (9,000).
Provincial data shows that the largest employment declines occurred in the Western Cape (65,000), Mpumalanga (50,000), and KwaZulu-Natal (49,000).
In contrast, employment increased in Gauteng (42,000), Limpopo (31,000), and the Eastern Cape (25,000).
Gender disparities also persist, with the total number of unemployed women rising by 93,000 to 4.1 million, while the number of employed women decreased by 28,000 to 7.4 million.
This resulted in the unemployment rate for women increasing from 35.2% in Q1 2024 to 35.8% in Q2 2024.
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