# Unemployment in South Africa has increased by one percentage point from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of 2025. Statistics SA announced the Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows there was a decrease of 291-thousand in the number of employed people, while there was an increase of 237-thousand in the number of unemployed people. These changes resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing from 31.9- to 32.9-percent in the first quarter. The expanded unemployment rate increased by 1.2 percentage points to 43.1-percent.
More South Africans unemployed as rate increases to 32.9% in first quarter of 2025