SA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE UP TO 32.9% IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2025
- Masimanyane Staff Writer
- May 13
- 1 min read
The official unemployment rate was 32,9% in the first quarter of 2025.
According to the QLFS Q1: 2025 results, there was a decrease of 291 000 in the number of employed persons to 16,8 million from 17,1 million in Q4: 2024, while there was an increase of 237 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8,2 million. This resulted in a decrease of 54 000 (down by 0,2%) in the labour force during the same period.
Discouraged work-seekers increased by 7 000 (up by 0,2%), and the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 177 000 (up by 1,4%) between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. This led to an increase of 184 000 in the number of the not economically active population, to 16,7 million.
The above changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 1,0 percentage point from 31,9% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 32,9% in the first quarter of 2025. The expanded unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 1,2 percentage points to 43,1% when compared with the fourth quarter of 2024, which was 41,9%.
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