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- The Western Cape has the lowest provincial unemployment rate at 19.6%
- Gauteng, which has the largest labour force, has unemployment of 34%
- The Eastern Cape has the highest at 37.2%, but improved since a Covid peak
Unemployment is not evenly distributed across South Africa. The national unemployment rate was 32.1% for the July to September 2024 period, according to Statistics SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The Western Cape is the only province with an unemployment rate below 30%. Currently at 19.6%, it has consistently remained below the national average since 2008.
Gauteng, the country’s economic powerhouse with the largest labour force of 7.6-million people, has an unemployment rate of 34%. KwaZulu-Natal, which has the second-largest labour force of 4-million people, has an unemployment rate of 31.2%. Its employment rate has been slightly below the national rate for more than a decade.
The Eastern Cape has the highest provincial unemployment rate at 37.2%, but the good news is that is has been improving since it peaked during the Covid pandemic.
— 18 November, 2024Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this
