Pretoria: The official unemployment rate in South Africa has decreased by 1.4 percentage points, moving from 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024 to 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024.

According to South African Government News Agency, the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the third quarter of 2024 highlights this decline. The survey indicates an increase of 294,000 in the number of employed persons, bringing the total to 16.9 million in Q3: 2024. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons decreased by 373,000, totaling 8.0 million. This resulted in a 79,000 decrease (down by 0.3%) in the labor force during the same period.

Discouraged work-seekers saw an increase of 160,000 (up by 5.0%), while the number of persons not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 54,000 (up by 0.4%) between the second and third quarters of 2024. This led to a 214,000 rise in the not economically active population, reaching 16.5 million, according to Stats
SA.

The expanded unemployment rate also experienced a decrease, dropping by 0.7 percentage points to 41.9% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter. Employment in the formal sector grew by 122,000, while the informal sector saw an increase of 165,000 over the same period.

Community and social services, construction, and trade sectors recorded the largest employment increases, with 194,000, 176,000, and 109,000 new jobs respectively. Conversely, employment declines were noted in the finance (189,000), private households (32,000), manufacturing (20,000), and transport (18,000) sectors.

Regionally, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, North West, and Mpumalanga experienced the largest employment gains, while declines were observed in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The youth unemployment rate also saw a slight decrease, with the total number of unemployed youth falling by 171,000 to 4.8 million, and an increase of 66,000 in employed youth to 5.8 million, resulting in a youth unemployment rate decre
ase from 46.6% in the second quarter to 45.5% in the third quarter of 2024.