South Africa job losses push unemployment to 32.7% in Q1 2026

Statistics South Africa has reported a further deterioration in the country’s labour market, with the official unemployment rate rising to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026, up from 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The latest data, released on Tuesday by Statistics South Africa, points to mounting pressure on Africa’s most industrialised economy as weak job creation, declining employment levels, and rising numbers of job seekers continue to strain the labour market.

The report shows that both employment losses and increased unemployment contributed to the sharp rise, demonstrating persistent structural weaknesses in the economy.

What the report is saying

Statistics South Africa said the labour market worsened in the first quarter of 2026 due to job losses across key sectors and an increase in the number of unemployed persons.

“A decrease in employment and an increase in unemployment resulted in an increase of 1.3 percentage points in the unemployment rate to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026,” the agency stated.
Employment declined by 345,000 to 16.8 million.
Unemployment increased by 301,000 to 8.1 million.
The total labour force fell marginally by 44,000 over the quarter.
Labour force participation rate declined to 59.0%, down 0.3 percentage points.
Absorption rate fell to 39.7%, down 0.9 percentage points.

The agency also noted a rise in people outside the labour force, which increased by 164,000 to 17.3 million, driven largely by discouraged job seekers. Discouraged work-seekers rose by 178,000 during the quarter.

Get up to speed

South Africa’s labour market has remained under sustained pressure for years, driven by sluggish economic growth, electricity constraints, weak investment inflows, and structural inefficiencies in key sectors such as manufacturing and mining.

The country has consistently recorded one of the highest unemployment rates globally, with youth unemployment particularly severe. Despite policy interventions and reform commitments by authorities, job creation has not kept pace with population growth.

In the current reporting period, job losses were spread across both formal and informal sectors, indicating that the slowdown is broad-based rather than confined to a single segment of the economy.

Formal sector employment fell by 189,000
Informal sector jobs declined by 127,000
Household employment dropped by 28,000

This suggests that both large employers and smaller economic activities are under pressure from weak demand conditions and constrained business environments.

More insights

The latest figures reinforce concerns that South Africa’s labour market is deteriorating at a faster pace than overall economic recovery efforts can offset. The rise in broader labour underutilisation indicators further highlights the depth of the challenge.

LU2 (unemployment + underemployment) rose to 35.9%
LU3 (unemployment + potential labour force) increased to 43.7%
LU4 (composite labour underutilisation) rose by 1.8 percentage points

The working-age population also increased by 498,000 compared to the same period in 2025, but job creation failed to match the rise, widening the gap between labour supply and demand.

Nigeria yet to release fresh labour data

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is yet to publish the latest Nigeria Labour Force Survey.

The last labour market data released by the agency in December 2024 showed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate declined to 4.3% in the second quarter of 2024, reversing three consecutive quarterly increases that had pushed the rate to 5.3% in the first quarter of that year.