South Africa’s overall unemployment rate remains above 30%, but the Western Cape has just seen its unemployment rate drop below 20%.
South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 31.9% in Q3 2025, down from 33.2% in the prior quarter.
This marks a 1.3 percentage point improvement, meaning roughly 248,000 more people found jobs, bringing the total number of employed South Africans to 17.1 million.
The Western Cape, on the other hand, saw its unemployment rate drop to 19.7% in Q3 2025 from 21.1% in Q2.
This remains the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa, with the latest data showing that the Western Cape quarter-on-quarter added 70,000 jobs.
“This is the result of the hard work this government undertakes in partnership with businesses and companies in the Western Cape,” said Western Cape Premier Alan Winde.
Winde added that the figures are especially encouraging as the province was able to sign six major investment declarations for the province, worth R50 billion at the start of November.
This investment is estimated to create an additional 45,000 jobs in the Western Cape over the next several years.
Provincial Minister of Tourism Ivan Meyer added that the latest data is encouraging, as it takes the province closer to its goal of 600,000 new jobs by 2035.
“We will intensify efforts to attract and support investment into critical sectors of the provincial economy, including tourism, manufacturing, agribusiness, and services,” added Winde.
The Western Cape’s dominance in employment figures is clear, with Limpopo in second place at 29.8%, followed by the Northern Cape and KZN at 31.2% and 31.7%, respectively.
Provinces where more people are unemployed
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers who have stopped looking for employment, does rise to 25.7% for the Western Cape.
However, this is still far better than other provinces in the country, with Gauteng the next best performer at 39.6%.
The situation is especially dire in the Eastern Cape and North West, with the former the only province to record an increase in unemployment in Q3.
Under the new expanded definition, the Eastern Cape’s unemployment rate stands at 50.2%, meaning that more people are unemployed than employed.
Despite having a lower actual unemployment figure, the North West is in an even worse position, with an expanded unemployment rate of 52.5%.
While the North West and Eastern Cape remain the worst provinces for employment in the country, the overall figures still do not provide for pretty reading.
Millions of South Africans remain locked out of the job market, with many stuck in a cycle of poverty.
While the latest employment figures were a step in the right direction, more will be needed to ensure economic growth in the country, which is set to grow at around 1% in 2025.
Considering that South Africa’s population grows at around 1.5% per year, 2025 is expected to see another decline in GDP per capita, indicating that the population as a whole is becoming poorer.
