BUSINESS NEWS - The total number of unemployed South Africans has risen to 8.4 million, after the unemployment rate increased to 33.2% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025.
This was revealed in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), and released today by the statistician-general of South Africa, Risenga Maluleke.
Zululand Observer reports that the report covers labour market activities of persons aged 15-64, and presents key findings of the QLFS conducted from April to June this year.
“Unemployed persons increased by 140 000 in Q2 2025 following an increase of 237 000 in the previous quarter. Notable is that unemployment has always increased in the second quarter of each year, except for the declines observed in 2020 and 2023,” noted Maluleke.
The report revealed that the number of discouraged work seekers decreased by 28 000 (down by 0.8%), while the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement remained unchanged between the two quarters. This resulted in a net decrease of 28 000 in the ‘not economically active’ population.
Maluleke noted that some young people have disengaged from the labour market, and are also not building on their skills base through education and training.
These individuals are classified as ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET).
He said the NEET rate serves as an important additional labour market indicator for young people.
“There were about 10.3 million young people aged 15-24 in Q2 2025, of which 35.2% were not in employment, education or training. This is 0.1% lower than the NEET rate in Q2 2024,” said Maluleke.
Maluleke further noted that in this age group, the NEET rate for women remained unchanged, while for men it decreased by 0.1 of a percentage point.
“The NEET rate for women was higher than that of their male counterparts in both years. Compared with Q2 2024, the percentage of young persons aged 15-34 who were NEET decreased by 0.2% from 44.2% to 43.9% in Q2 2025.
“The NEET rate for men decreased by 1.0 percentage point, while for women it increased by 0.5 of a percentage point. In both Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, more than four in every 10 young people were not in employment, education or training,” added Maluleke.
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