Agriculture and finance each recorded a reduction of just over 24,000 jobs in Q2 2025, while the community and social services sector saw a decrease of 42,000, according to Statistics South Africa's (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
Thanda Sithole, senior economist at FNB, noted in a press release that the 905,770 jobs in the agriculture sector in Q2 2025 were still 9,845 more year-on-year. The overall unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points, from 32.9% to 33.2%. North West recorded the highest unemployment rate at 40.1%, followed by the Eastern Cape at 39.5%.
Stats SA's survey is not seasonally adjusted, reflecting fluctuations linked to the production cycles of various agricultural commodities. Dawie Maree, head of agriculture information and marketing at FNB, attributed the decline in Q2 employment to the late start of the summer rains, which delayed the citrus season, a major employer of seasonal labour. Maree also cited seasonality in the grain sector and the impact of foot-and-mouth disease as contributing factors. "Although the grain sector isn't a big employer of seasonal labour, it still has a measure of seasonality, which would have contributed to the downward trend. Another contributor would have been the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which may not have shaved off a large number of jobs if you look at the overall livestock sector, but it did play a role," he said.
Maree added that this drop is expected to reverse in Q3, with late summer rains already contributing to an increase in employment across various production industries. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke noted that over the past decade, the Western Cape's unemployment rate has remained below the national average, while the Eastern Cape's rate has stayed above it.
In Q2 2025, unemployment rates in the Northern Cape and Western Cape were below the national average, at 32.7% and 21.1%, respectively. The Western Cape recorded the largest quarterly fall in employment, down 117,000 jobs from Q1, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 86,000 fewer jobs, and the Northern Cape with a reduction of 28,000. Gauteng recorded the largest gains, adding 95,000 jobs, followed by the Eastern Cape with 89,000.
Unemployment stood at 38.5% in the Free State, 35% in Limpopo, 34% in Mpumalanga, 33.8% in Gauteng, and 33.4% in KwaZulu-Natal. The trade sector added 88,000 jobs in Q2, private households gained 28,000, and mining recorded an increase of 1,000 jobs.
Employment in the formal sector accounted for 11.5 million jobs, or 68.2% of total employment, compared with 3.3 million (19.8%) in the informal sector, 1.1 million (6.6%) in private households, and 906,000 (5.4%) in agriculture.
Sithole highlighted that youth unemployment remained high, with the jobless rate for 15- to 24-year-olds at 62.2% in Q2, compared with 62.4% in Q1 and 60.8% in Q4 2024. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, unemployment was 40.5% in Q2, compared with 40.4% in Q1 and 41.7% in Q4 2024. "This underscores the urgent need to accelerate pro-growth structural reforms that can drive sustainable and inclusive economic expansion. Government's diplomatic stance in the wake of the U.S.'s 'Liberation Day' tariffs remains critical to mitigating potential job losses stemming from the effects of these steep tariffs on South Africa's access to the U.S. market," he said.
Source: Farmer's Weekly