South Africa’s official unemployment rate has increased to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, with the number of unemployed people rising by 345,000 to 8.5 million. The official unemployment rate rose by 0.9 of a percentage point from 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026 to 33.6% in the second quarter. This resulted in a net decrease of 280,000 in the potential labour force, bringing the total to 4.6 million people. The current absorption rate is 39.7%, while the labour force participation rate has increased to 59%. Maluleke says the widening gap between the labour force participation rate and the absorption rate shows that South Africa is still struggling to address the employment problem.