South Africa's official unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with the unemployment rate of 31.9% in the third quarter, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports.

Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed an increase of 44 000 in the number of employed persons to 17.1-million and a decrease of 172 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 7.8-million in the fourth quarter.

During the same period, discouraged job-seekers increased by 233 000 to 3.7-million, other available job-seekers decreased by 110 000 to 855 000 and unavailable job-seekers decreased by 41 000 to 42 000, resulting in a total net increase of 82 000, to 4.6-million, in the potential labour force population (persons who were available but not seeking or unavailable but seeking).

In addition to the official unemployment rate, other measures of labour underutilisation were measured. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment decreased by 0.6 of a percentage point to 34.3%, while the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force decreased by 0.3 of a percentage point to 42.1% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, Stats SA points out.

Lastly, the composite measure of labour underutilisation, which combines time-related underemployment, unemployment and potential labour force as a proportion of extended labour force, was 44.5% in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Stats SA's data shows that the number of persons employed in the formal sector increased by 320 000 in the fourth quarter, while informal sector employment decreased by 293 000.

During the fourth quarter, the largest increases in industry employment were recorded in community and social service (46 000), construction (35 000) and finance (32 000).

Decreases in employment were recorded in trade (98 000), manufacturing (61 000) and mining (5 000).

The results also indicate that increases in employment were observed in the Western Cape (93 000), Mpumalanga (37 000), North West (36 000) and Northern Cape (17 000), while the largest employment decreases were recorded in Gauteng (54 000), KwaZulu-Natal (41 000) and the Eastern Cape (32 000).

The youth remain vulnerable in the labour market, with the youth unemployment rate having increased by 0.1 of a percentage point to 43.8%.