South Africa's unemployment rate worsened by 0.3 of a percentage point to 33.2% in the second quarter, compared with the unemployment rate of 32.9% reported for the first quarter of the year.

Statistics South Africa reports that there was an increase of 19 000 in the number of employed persons to 16.8-million, while there was an increase of 140 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8.4-million in the second quarter. This resulted in an increase of 159 000 in the labour force during the same period.

Discouraged work-seekers decreased by 28 000 and the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement remained unchanged between the first quarter of 2025 and the second quarter. This led to a decrease of 28 000 in the number of the not economically active population to 16.6-million.

Meanwhile, the expanded unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 of a percentage point to 42.9% in the second quarter, compared with the 43.1% recorded in the first quarter.

The number of persons employed in the formal sector increased by 34 000 in the second quarter, while informal sector employment decreased by 19 000.

The largest increases in employment were recorded in the trade (88 000), private households (28 000) and construction (20 000) industries, while the largest decreases in employment were recorded in community and social services (42 000), agriculture (24 000), finance (24 000), transport (15 000), utilities (6 000) and manufacturing (5 000).