South Africa Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in South Africa decreased to 27.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 27.5 percent in the previous period. The number of unemployed went down by 70 thousand to 6.14 million and employment rose by 149 thousand to 16.53 million. The unemployment rate usually falls in the last quarter of the year, due to higher job activity during the festive season. However, a year earlier, the jobless rate was lower at 26.7 percent. Unemployment Rate in South Africa averaged 25.63 percent from 2000 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 31.20 percent in the first quarter of 2003 and a record low of 21.50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Unemployment Rate in South Africa is expected to be 27.60 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in South Africa to stand at 27.60 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the South Africa Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 28.40 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.

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Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	TEForecast
2018-05-15	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	26.7%	26.7%	28.0%
2018-07-31	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	27.2%	26.7%	26.7%
2018-10-30	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	27.5%	27.2%	27.4%
2019-02-12	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	27.1%	27.5%	27.40%
2019-05-14	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate		27.1%	27.60%
2019-07-30	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate			27.80%
2019-10-29	09:30 AM	Unemployment Rate			28.00%

South Africa Jobless Rate Drops to 27.1% in Q4

The unemployment rate in South Africa decreased to 27.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 27.5 percent in the previous period. The unemployment rate usually falls in the last quarter of the year, due to higher job activity during the festive season. However, a year earlier, the jobless rate was lower at 26.7 percent.

The number of unemployed decreased by 70 thousand to 6.14 million from 6.21 million in the third quarter of 2018. Employment rose by 149 thousand to 16.53 million from 16.38 million in the previous period. Job creation was registered in the formal sector (+92 thousand), private households (+65 thousand), manufacturing (+48 thousand), finance (+109 thousand), mining (+31 thousand), trade (+14 thousand) and in agriculture (+7 thousand). Meanwhile, cuts ocurred in utilities (-22 thousand), construction (-21 thousand), transport services (-30 thousand), community and social services (-51 thousand) and in the informal sector (-15 thousand).

The labour force force also increased by 79 thousand to 22.67 million from 22.59 million in the previous quarter and those detached from it went up by 70 thousand to 15.47 million from 15.40 million in Q3.

The expanded definition of unemployment, including people who have stopped looking for work, decreased to 37 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 37.3 percent in the third quarter.

By genders, the jobless rate decreased for men (25.1 percent vs 25.9 percent in Q3) but it edged up for women (29.5 percent vs 29.4 percent). Also, the youth unemployment rate climbed to 54.7 percent from 52.8 percent in Q3, hitting the highest level since Q2 2017.

Statistics South Africa | Luisa Carvalho | luisa.carvalho@tradingeconomics.com
2/12/2019 2:49:28 PM

News

South Africa Jobless Rate Highest in a Year
The unemployment rate in South Africa rose to 27.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018 from 27.2 percent in the previous period. It was the highest jobless rate since the third quarter of 2017, as the number of unemployed increased by 127 thousand to 6.21 million. Meantime, the number of employed advanced by 92 thousand to 16.38 million.
Published on 2018-10-30

South Africa Jobless Rate Rises to 27.2% in Q2
The unemployment rate in South Africa increased to 27.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 from 26.7 percent in the previous period. The number of unemployed rose by 103 thousand to 6.08 million while the number of employed fell by 90 thousand to 16.29 million.
Published on 2018-07-31

South Africa Jobless Rate Steady at 26.7% in Q1
South Africa's unemployment rate came in at 26.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018, unchanged from the previous period. The number of unemployed increased by 100 thousand to 5.98 million and the number of employed rose by 207 thousand to 16.38 million.
Published on 2018-05-15

South Africa’s Jobless Rate Falls to 26.7% in Q4
South Africa's unemployment rate decreased to 26.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 from 27.7 percent in the previous period. The number of unemployed fell by 330 thousand to 5.88 million and the number of employed declined by 21 thousand to 16.17 million.
Published on 2018-02-13

South Africa Labour	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Unemployment Rate	27.10	27.50	31.20	21.50	percent	[+]
Employed Persons	9733000.00	9748000.00	9817000.00	3694977.00		[+]
Unemployed Persons	6100.00	6200.00	6214.11	3873.00	Thousand	[+]
Labor Force Participation Rate	59.40	59.50	60.80	53.60	percent	[+]
Labour Costs	150.90	150.80	150.90	1.10	Index Points	[+]
Wages	20860.00	20176.00	20860.00	6742.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Wages in Manufacturing	18344.00	17674.00	18344.00	6250.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Population	57.73	56.84	57.73	17.46	Million	[+]
Retirement Age Women	60.00	60.00	60.00	60.00		[+]
Retirement Age Men	60.00	60.00	65.00	60.00		[+]
Wages Low Skilled	4380.00	3960.00	4380.00	3840.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Youth Unemployment Rate	54.70	52.80	55.90	48.80	percent	[+]
Wages High Skilled	22600.00	20300.00	22600.00	19000.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Living Wage Family	11300.00	10700.00	11300.00	10700.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Living Wage Individual	6570.00	6140.00	6570.00	6140.00	ZAR/Month	[+]
Employment Rate	43.34	43.10	46.17	41.00	percent	[+]

In South Africa, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - South Africa Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. South Africa Unemployment Rate - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on March of 2019.

	Actual	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Dates	Unit	Frequency
	27.10	27.50	31.20	21.50	2000 - 2018	percent	Quarterly

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Country	Last		Previous	Range
South Africa	27.10	Dec/18	27.5	31.2 : 21.5	%
Spain	14.45	Dec/18	14.55	26.94 : 4.41	%
Turkey	13.50	Dec/18	12.3	14.8 : 7.3	%
Brazil	12.00	Jan/19	11.6	13.7 : 6.2	%
Italy	10.50	Jan/19	10.4	13.1 : 5.8	%
Argentina	9.00	Sep/18	9.6	20.8 : 5.9	%
France	8.80	Dec/18	9.1	10.7 : 7.2	%
Euro Area	7.80	Jan/19	7.8	12.1 : 7.3	%
India	6.10	Dec/18	3.52	8.3 : 3.41	%
Saudi Arabia	6.00	Sep/18	6	6.3 : 4.35	%
Canada	5.80	Feb/19	5.8	13.1 : 2.9	%
Indonesia	5.34	Sep/18	5.13	11.24 : 2	%
Australia	5.00	Jan/19	5	11.2 : 4	%
Russia	4.90	Jan/19	4.8	14.1 : 4.5	%
United Kingdom	4.00	Dec/18	4	12 : 3.4	%
China	3.80	Dec/18	3.82	4.3 : 3.8	%
United States	3.80	Feb/19	4	10.8 : 2.5	%
South Korea	3.70	Feb/19	4.4	7.1 : 3	%
Mexico	3.60	Jan/19	3.4	6.42 : 2.22	%
Netherlands	3.60	Jan/19	3.6	7.9 : 3.5	%
Germany	3.20	Jan/19	3.3	11.5 : 0.4	%
Switzerland	2.70	Feb/19	2.8	5.7 : 1.5	%
Japan	2.50	Jan/19	2.4	5.5 : 1	%
Singapore	2.20	Dec/18	2.1	6 : 1.4	%