{
  "id": "unemployment-national",
  "title": "Unemployment rate (official definition)",
  "description": "South Africa's official unemployment rate (strict definition, ages 15–64) rose 0.9 percentage points to 33.6% in Q2 2026. The number of unemployed persons increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million while employment fell by 16,000 to 16.7 million. Separately, the combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force (LU3) was 43.8%. LU3 is a different measure from the former 'expanded unemployment rate', which Stats SA stopped reporting after Q2 2025, and the two should not be compared directly.",
  "unit": "%",
  "category": "unemployment",
  "latest": {
    "value": 33.6,
    "display": "33.6%"
  },
  "source": {
    "publisher": "Statistics South Africa",
    "publication": "Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2 2026",
    "url": "https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2026.pdf",
    "releasedOn": "2026-08-11"
  },
  "checkedOn": "2026-10-28",
  "page": "https://sadatahub.tech/series/unemployment-national",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "citation": "Statistics South Africa (2026). Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2 2026. Series \"Unemployment rate (official definition)\" via SA Data Hub, https://sadatahub.tech/series/unemployment-national (checked 2026-10-28).",
  "points": [
    {
      "period": "Q1 2022",
      "value": 34.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Q2 2022",
      "value": 33.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q3 2022",
      "value": 32.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q4 2022",
      "value": 32.7
    },
    {
      "period": "Q1 2023",
      "value": 32.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q2 2023",
      "value": 32.6
    },
    {
      "period": "Q3 2023",
      "value": 31.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q4 2023",
      "value": 32.1
    },
    {
      "period": "Q1 2024",
      "value": 32.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q2 2024",
      "value": 33.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Q3 2024",
      "value": 32.1
    },
    {
      "period": "Q4 2024",
      "value": 31.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q1 2025",
      "value": 32.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q2 2025",
      "value": 33.2
    },
    {
      "period": "Q3 2025",
      "value": 31.9
    },
    {
      "period": "Q4 2025",
      "value": 31.4
    },
    {
      "period": "Q1 2026",
      "value": 32.7
    },
    {
      "period": "Q2 2026",
      "value": 33.6
    }
  ],
  "revisions": [],
  "changeLog": [
    {
      "date": "2026-11-09",
      "type": "correction",
      "summary": "Rewrote the unemployment story so every figure cites the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q2 2026 with its table and page. Removed the sections on causes and the outlook, which gave opinions without a source, and unsourced claims about provinces and world rankings. The youth rates now use Q2 2026 instead of Q4 2025."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-19",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Refreshed to QLFS Q2 2026 (33.6%). Historical points for Q2 2023, Q3 2023, Q4 2023, Q1 2025 corrected against original Stats SA releases. Some older observations not re-verified."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-05-31",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Metadata verification run completed for unemployment indicators and source attribution."
    }
  ]
}