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What is the unemployment rate in South Africa?

South Africa's official unemployment rate was 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 32.7% in the first quarter, according to Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

Official unemployment rate, last nine quarters
  • Q2 202433.5%
  • Q3 202432.1%
  • Q4 202431.9%
  • Q1 202532.9%
  • Q2 202533.2%
  • Q3 202531.9%
  • Q4 202531.4%
  • Q1 202632.7%
  • Q2 202633.6%

Source: Stats SA, Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2: 2026 (P0211), Table A, page 1. Source released . Checked on SA Data Hub . Original data: Stats SA. Any calculation shown is SA Data Hub's own processing.

Source: Stats SA, Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2 2026, earlier quarters. Source released . Checked on SA Data Hub . Original data: Stats SA. Any calculation shown is SA Data Hub's own processing.

How this was worked out

The official rate (LU1) is "the proportion of the labour force that is unemployed" (QLFS, page 18). In Q2 2026 that was 8 481 000 unemployed out of a labour force of 25 220 000.

Earlier quarters are from the unemployment dataset on SA Data Hub.

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