South Africa adds 101,000 jobs in the third quarter, but unemployment edges up to 33.7%
More people joined the labour force than found work, Statistics South Africa's latest survey shows.
Pretoria — South Africa's official unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 33.7% in the third quarter of 2026, from 33.6% in the second quarter, according to Statistics South Africa's Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The number of people in work rose by 101,000 to 16.8 million. But the number of unemployed people also rose, by 97,000 to 8.6 million, as the labour force grew by 198,000, or 0.8%.
Wider measures
Discouraged job-seekers increased by 70,000 to 3.7 million. The number of people outside the labour force fell by 82,000 to 17.0 million.
Other measures of labour underutilisation moved in different directions. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment fell by 0.1 percentage point to 36.5%, while the rate that includes the potential labour force rose by 0.2 points to 44.0%. The broadest composite measure was unchanged at 46.3%.
Source: SAnews, 10 November 2026.
