Stats SA’s latest data reveals the full extent of South Africa’s unemployment bloodbath in Q2 2024. An election year is always going to be potentially disruptive for South Africa’s unemployment rate, but the outgoing African National Congress have dropped the employment ball big time. This now leaves an even taller mountain to climb for the newly elected Government of National Unity (GNU).
- The official unemployment rate is up to 33.5% (Q2 2024), which represents a 0.6% increase from 32.9% (Q1 2024). Likewise, the expanded unemployment rate now sits at 42.6% (Q2 2024), which is an increase of 0.7%. 92 000 less people had jobs in Q2 2024, lowering the total number of employed residents to 16.7 million. Discouraged work seekers increased by 4.8%, which is an additional 147 000 citizens in Q2 2024.
- There’s an increase of 72 000 persons who are not economically active in South Africa. This figure now sits at 16.3 million (Q2 2024) and includes people not working and surviving solely on South African Social Security Agency grants. Employment in the formal sector decreased by 77 000 (Q2 2024), while informal sector employment increased by 48 000 over the same period.
