While there was hope that less load shedding and more investment would bring more jobs, the economy shed 291 000 jobs.
Unemployment in South Africa increased by a full 1% in the first quarter of 2025, with the economy shedding 291 000 jobs. This means that only 16.8 million South Africans are working, down from 17.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics SA, the official unemployment rate was 32.9% after an increase of 237 000 in the number of unemployed people to 8.2 million, resulting in a decrease of 54 000 (down by 0.2%) in the labour force.
The increase in unemployment was also due to the number of discouraged work-seekers increasing by 7 000 (up by 0.2%) and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increasing by 177 000 (up by 1.4%) between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.
Statistics SA says this led to an increase of 184 000 in the number of the not economically active population, to 16.7 million.
These changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 1% from 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025.
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