By Buchule Putini
South Africa’s unemployment wound is bleeding wider. New figures from Statistics South Africa show the country’s official jobless rate has shifted up to 33.2% in the second quarter of 2025—one of the highest in the world.
The rise from 32.9% in Q1 may seem small, but behind that fraction are lives—8.4 million people now without work, an increase of 140 000 in just three months.
Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey also shows the expanded unemployment rate—which includes discouraged job seekers—slipped slightly to 42.9% from 43.1%. But that figure still means nearly half the labour force is either jobless or has given up looking for work.
Women remain the hardest hit: 35.9% unemployment compared to 31.0% for men.
Among young people aged 15–34, the crisis is even more brutal, with rates well above the national average.
These are not just percentages; they are warning sirens. They echo in townships where grocery lists get shorter, in rural areas where bus fares to the nearest town are unaffordable, and in city flats where lights are switched off earlier to save on prepaid electricity.
Economists warn that without meaningful job creation—beyond short-term public works and contract posts—the numbers will keep climbing. And with each rise, the dream of a working South Africa drifts further from reach.
“This increase, though small in percentage terms, reflects the real struggles facing South African households,” Stats SA noted.
The numbers are out. The question remains: what will be done before they rise again?
