South Africa’s official unemployment rate has increased by 0.9 percentage point from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026 to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026. This is according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday, 11 August. This resulted in an increase of 329,000 (or 1.3%) in the labour force during the same period. “The above changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate (Labour Underutilisation [LU1]) increasing by 0.9 percentage point from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026 to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026,” Stats SA said. As a result, the youth unemployment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 47.4% in the second quarter of 2026,” Stats SA said.