I love seeing progress, and this latest report from Statistics South Africa gives me hope! South Africa’s official unemployment rate has dipped slightly, moving from 32.1% to 31.9% in the last quarter of 2024. It may be just 0.2 percentage points, but every bit of progress counts.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that an additional 132,000 people found jobs, bringing the total number of employed individuals to 17.1 million. At the same time, the number of unemployed individuals dropped by 20,000, showing that the job market is making small but steady strides.
That said, it’s not all smooth sailing. While more people found work, the number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 111,000. This means there are still too many people losing hope in their job search, and that’s something we need to fix.
On a positive note, the formal sector grew by 90,000 jobs, and the informal sector added 34,000 more. The biggest winners? The finance sector, which created 232,000 new jobs, followed by manufacturing, adding 41,000. But not all industries saw gains—community services, trade, and construction recorded job losses.
Provincially, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng led job creation, while the Free State, North West, and Limpopo saw declines. The numbers also tell us that youth unemployment, while still high, is slowly declining—down from 45.5% to 44.6%.
What does this all mean? The job market is shifting, and while we’re not where we need to be, these small victories remind me that progress is possible. We need to keep pushing for more job opportunities, better policies, and stronger economic growth to sustain this momentum.
I believe in South Africa’s potential—do you?