South Africa’s unemployment marginally down again

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the fourth quarter of 2024 has some good news, showing that unemployment decreased for the second consecutive quarter, although it was marginal and still shows that only 17.1 million people were employed.

According to Statistics SA, the official unemployment rate was 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024, 0.2% down from 32.1% in the third quarter.

The QLFS for the fourth quarter shows there was an increase of 132 000 in the number of employed people to 17.1 million, while there was a decrease of 20 000 in the number of unemployed people to 8 million. This resulted in an increase of 112 000 (+0.4%) in the labour force.

However, there was an increase in discouraged work-seekers of 111 000 (+3.3%) but the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 93 000 (-0.7%) between the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2024. This led to an increase of 18 000 in the number of the not economically active population to 16.5 million.

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Official unemployment rate decreased by 0.2%

Statistics SA says these changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate decreasing by 0.2%, while the expanded unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2024 remained unchanged at 41.9% compared to the third quarter of 2024.

The number of people employed in the formal sector increased by 90 000 in the fourth quarter, while informal sector employment increased by 34 000.

The largest increases in employment were recorded in finance (+232 000) and manufacturing (+41 000), while decreases in employment were recorded in community and social services (-63 000), trade (-48 000), construction (-22 000), mining (-18 000), utilities (-17 000) and agriculture (-11 000).

According to the survey, the largest increases in employment were observed in the Western Cape, where 62 000 jobs were added, KwaZulu-Natal, where 52 000 jobs were added and Gauteng where 45 000 jobs were added.

The Free State shed 25 000 jobs, while the North West shed 20 000 jobs and Limpopo shed 16 000 jobs.

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Unemployed youth still at 44.6%

However, youth employment remains a problem, with youth between the ages of 15 and 34 remaining vulnerable in the labour market.

The results for the fourth quarter show that the total number of unemployed youth decreased by 133 000 to 4.7 million, while employed youth recorded an increase of 37 000 to 5.8 million. As a result, the youth unemployment rate decreased from 45.5% in the third quarter of 2024 to 44.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024.