SA’s unemployment rate drops to 31.9%, but SAFTU calls it a ‘national tragedy’

Posted on November 12, 2025
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SA’s unemployment rate drops to 31.9%, but SAFTU calls it a ‘national tragedy’

Mapaballo Borotho

Unemployment in SA
Image @iStock
  • South Africa’s unemployment rate dropped to 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025.
  • However, SAFTU says there is “nothing to celebrate,” arguing the figures hide the reality of worsening inequality and deindustrialisation.
  • The federation highlighted that black women and youth remain the hardest hit, with expanded unemployment rates above 50%.

South Africa’s unemployment rate has fallen to 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025 from 33.2% in the second quarter of the year, but millions remain unemployed.

This is according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey released on Tuesday by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke.

The largest decrease was recorded in Limpopo, while the Eastern Cape was the exception, recording the only increase. The province’s unemployment rate currently far surpasses the national average.

Despite these statistics, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) says this is yet another reminder that the country’s economy is collapsing on top of the poor.

“Anyone celebrating today is celebrating a national tragedy,” said SAFTU spokesperson Asive Dyani.

“Stats SA’s labour force data confirms what workers have long known: unemployment is deepening, deindustrialisation is accelerating, and inequality is hardening into a permanent condition. SAFTU will not allow anyone to sanitise these figures. Our position is firm: the expanded unemployment rate is the only real measure of joblessness in this country.”

SAFTU has revealed that black women face an expanded unemployment rate of 51.4%, the highest of any group in South Africa.

“Youth (15–34) expanded unemployment remains above 50%, creating a generation locked out of work, income, and hope. This is not a temporary downturn. It is structural. It is political. And it flows directly from the fact that, 31 years into democracy, the South African economy remains essentially unchanged from its colonial–apartheid structure,” Dyani added.

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