The youth continue to bear the brunt of unemployment, remaining the most vulnerable group in the labour market.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has released the latest employment figures, showing an improvement in the labour market as more people find work.
Data released on Tuesday shows that the Western Cape recorded the highest increase in employment, while Gauteng recorded the highest decrease.
Despite broader shifts in employment, the country’s youth continue to bear the brunt of unemployment, remaining the most vulnerable group in the labour market.
Unemployment rate drops to 31.4%
According toStats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2025, the official unemployment rate is 31.4%, down 0.5 percentage points from 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025.
Stats SA revealed on Tuesday that 44 000 people found jobs between October and December 2025, increasing the number of employed people to 17.1 million, while there was a decrease of 172 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 7.8 million.
“This resulted in a decrease of 128 000 (or 0.5%) in the labour force in the same period.”
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Unemployment among job-seekers
According to Stats SA, the number of discouraged job-seekers rose by 233 000 to 3.7 million in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, other available job-seekers declined by 110 000 to 855 000, and unavailable work-seekers fell by 41 000 to 42 000.
Overall, this resulted in a net increase of 82 000, bringing the potential labour force, those either available but not actively looking for work, or looking but not currently available, to 4.6 million.
In addition, other outside the labour force increased by 165 000 to 12.5 million. Outside the labour force, which is the total of the potential labour force and other outside the labour force, increased by 248 000 to 17.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Other measures of labour underutilisation
Stats SA says that, in addition to the unemployment rate, other measures of labour underutilisation were measured.
The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 34.3%, while the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 42.1% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter of 2025.
“Lastly, the composite measure of labour underutilisation, which combines time-related underemployment, unemployment and potential labour force as a proportion of extended labour force, was 44.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025,” adds Stats SA.
“These labour underutilisation measures highlight people in different situations and with different degrees of attachment to the labour market.”
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Sectors that employed most people
The data show that the industry that recorded the highest increase in employment was Community and social services, with an increase of 46 000 people; Construction added 35 000, followed by Finance, which saw an increase of 32 000.
98 000 jobs were lost in Trade, making it the industry with the largest decrease in employment in the fourth quarter of 2025, followed by Manufacturing, which shed 61 000 jobs and Mining, which saw 5 000 jobs lost.
“The number of persons employed in the formal sector increased by 320 000 in the forth quarter of 2025, and informal sector employment decreased by 293 000 over the same period.”
Employment by provinces
Stats SA adds that 93 000 people were hired in Western Cape, making it the province to see the highest increase. Mpumalanga saw an increase of 37 000, followed by North West with 36 000 and Northern Cape with 17 000.
54 000 jobs were lost in Gauteng, making it the province to see the highest decrease. KwaZulu-Natal employment decreased by 41 000 and Eastern Cape by 32 000.
The youth, aged 15-34 years, remain vulnerable in the labour market.
“The results for the fourth quarter of 2025 show that the total number of unemployed youth decreased by 84 000 to 4.6 million, while employed youth recorded a decrease of 113 000 to 5.8 million.
“As a result, the youth unemployment rate increased by 0.1 of a percentage point to 43.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025.”
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