Data series, Unemployment
Unemployment rate (official definition)
33.6%Q2 2026. Up from 32.7% in Q1 2026.
Series id unemployment-national. This page and its downloads keep the same address when new figures are added.
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.
Source: Statistics South Africa, Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2 2026. Source released . Checked on SA Data Hub . Original data: Stats SA. Any calculation shown is SA Data Hub's own processing.
Show the numbers as a table
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| Q1 2022 | 34.5% |
| Q2 2022 | 33.9% |
| Q3 2022 | 32.9% |
| Q4 2022 | 32.7% |
| Q1 2023 | 32.9% |
| Q2 2023 | 32.6% |
| Q3 2023 | 31.9% |
| Q4 2023 | 32.1% |
| Q1 2024 | 32.9% |
| Q2 2024 | 33.5% |
| Q3 2024 | 32.1% |
| Q4 2024 | 31.9% |
| Q1 2025 | 32.9% |
| Q2 2025 | 33.2% |
| Q3 2025 | 31.9% |
| Q4 2025 | 31.4% |
| Q1 2026 | 32.7% |
| Q2 2026 | 33.6% |
Every value
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | 33.6% |
| Q1 2026 | 32.7% |
| Q4 2025 | 31.4% |
| Q3 2025 | 31.9% |
| Q2 2025 | 33.2% |
| Q1 2025 | 32.9% |
| Q4 2024 | 31.9% |
| Q3 2024 | 32.1% |
| Q2 2024 | 33.5% |
| Q1 2024 | 32.9% |
| Q4 2023 | 32.1% |
| Q3 2023 | 31.9% |
| Q2 2023 | 32.6% |
| Q1 2023 | 32.9% |
| Q4 2022 | 32.7% |
| Q3 2022 | 32.9% |
| Q2 2022 | 33.9% |
| Q1 2022 | 34.5% |
Changes to this series
No revisions by the publisher have been recorded for this series. SA Data Hub started recording them on 7 November 2026; earlier revisions are not listed.
SA Data Hub's update log for this dataset
, correction
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.
, data update
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.
, data update
Metadata verification run completed for unemployment indicators and source attribution.
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You may reuse this series under CC BY 4.0. Credit Statistics South Africa as the original source and SA Data Hub as the place you got it.
Cite this series
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).
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