The Eastern Cape recorded a decline of 32,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released on Tuesday.
Nationally, the official unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point from 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025 to 31.4% in the fourth quarter, following the addition of 44,000 jobs during the period under review.
Presenting the data at Stats SA’s Isibalo House headquarters in Pretoria, statistician-general Risenga Maluleke said the number of employed persons increased by 44,000 to 17.1 million, while the number of unemployed persons decreased by 172,000 to 7.8 million compared with the third quarter.
Despite this, discouraged job seekers increased by 233,000 to 3.7 million.
Maluleke said other available job seekers decreased by 110,000 to 855,000, while unavailable job seekers decreased by 41,000 to 42,000.
This resulted in a net increase of 82,000 to 4.6 million in the potential labour force population — defined as persons who were available but not seeking work or unavailable but seeking work.
Those outside the labour force accounted for 17.1 million people in the fourth quarter.
Although employment increased and unemployment declined, the labour force decreased by 128,000, or 0.5%, reflecting movements within the working-age population.
The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment decreased by 0.6 of a percentage point to 34.3%.
The combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force — often referred to as the expanded unemployment rate — decreased by 0.3 of a percentage point to 42.1% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter.
The composite measure of labour underutilisation, which combines time-related underemployment, unemployment and the potential labour force as a proportion of the extended labour force, stood at 44.5% in the fourth quarter.
Formal sector employment increased by 320,000 in the fourth quarter, while informal sector employment decreased by 293,000 over the same period.
The largest increases in industry employment were recorded in community and social services (46,000), construction (35,000) and finance (32,000).
Employment declines were recorded in trade (98,000), manufacturing (61,000) and mining (5,000).
Provincially, the Western Cape recorded the largest increase in employment at 93,000, followed by Mpumalanga (37,000), North West (36,000) and Northern Cape (17,000).
The largest decreases in employment were recorded in Gauteng (54,000), KwaZulu-Natal (41,000) and the Eastern Cape (32,000).
The latest data is in line with projections from the Bureau of Market Research (BMR), which indicated that while headline unemployment figures may appear broadly stable, labour market conditions remain challenging.
The release of the unemployment figures follows comments made last month by mineral and petroleum resources minister and ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe, who suggested that South Africa’s high unemployment was partly due to young people being too lazy to look for work and relying on government support.
During the state of the nation address (Sona) in Cape Town last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was a matter of national concern that too many South Africans remained unemployed and too many young people struggled to find their first job.
He reiterated that job creation remained a priority for government and said Operation Vulindlela was aimed at removing structural barriers to investment, including power cuts, data costs and logistics bottlenecks.
South Africa’s official unemployment rate of 31.9% in the third quarter was five times higher than the average among the country’s G20 peers.
The fourth-quarter results show a marginal decline in the official unemployment rate to 31.4%, alongside an increase in discouraged job seekers to 3.7 million and a potential labour force of 4.6 million.
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