Pretoria – South Africa’s official unemployment rate climbed to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026, up 1.3 percentage points from 31.4% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa on 12 May 2026.
The results show that the number of employed persons fell by 345 000 to 16.8 million between October and December 2025 and January and March 2026, while the number of unemployed persons rose by 301 000 to reach 8.1 million over the same period. Employment in the formal sector declined by 189 000, while the informal sector shed 127 000 jobs.
For Eswatini, the figures carry direct significance. South Africa remains the Kingdom’s largest trading partner and the primary destination for Swazi migrant workers, meaning any deterioration in the South African labour market has a ripple effect on remittances flowing back into Eswatini’s economy. 
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke noted that migration continues to shape South Africa’s population landscape, with the country home to an estimated 2.4 million immigrants, including undocumented migrants, as of 2022. Mozambique and Zimbabwe have been the top source countries since 1996, with the majority of migrants coming from the SADC region, and nearly two-thirds of them concentrated in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Youth unemployment took a sharp turn for the worse in the first quarter of 2026, with the rate among those aged 15 to 34 years rising 2.0 percentage points to 45.8%. The total number of unemployed young people in that age group increased by 181 000 to reach 4.7 million, while youth employment fell by 258 000 to 5.6 million.
The proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 who were not in employment, education or training, a measure known as the NEET rate, stood at 37.6% in the first quarter of 2026, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than the same period in 2025. The NEET rate for young women increased by 1.7 percentage points, while the rate for young men decreased by 0.7 percentage points.
Employment losses were recorded across seven of the ten industries tracked by the survey. The sharpest declines were in community and social services, which shed 206 000 jobs, followed by construction with 110 000 losses and transport with 30 000. The only industries to record employment gains were manufacturing, which added 38 000 jobs, mining with 32 000 and agriculture with 10 000.
Eight of South Africa’s nine provinces recorded employment losses between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The largest declines were recorded in North West with 80 000 jobs lost, followed by Gauteng at 67 000, Mpumalanga at 54 000, and the Eastern Cape and Limpopo at 43 000 each. KwaZulu-Natal was the only province to record an employment gain, adding 6 000 jobs.
The Eastern Cape recorded the highest unemployment rate among all provinces at 44.6%, while the Western Cape remained the lowest at 19.6%. Mpumalanga saw the largest quarter-on-quarter increase in its unemployment rate, rising 4.0 percentage points to 36.3%.
Broader measures of labour underutilisation painted an even grimmer picture. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment rose to 35.9%, while the combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force reached 43.7%. The composite measure of labour underutilisation, which includes all three components, stood at 46.3% for the quarter.
The number of discouraged work-seekers, those who want to work but have stopped actively looking, increased by 178 000 to reach 3.9 million, a 12.1% increase compared with the first quarter of 2025.
