This province tops South Africa’s unemployment charts
Recent Stats SA data reveals that in one province, more adults are jobless than employed. Here’s what the unemployment rates show…
South Africa’s job crisis continues to worsen, and the North West is bearing the brunt more than any other province.
The province now stands out as the only one where the unemployed outnumber those with jobs—a situation some argue deserves to be declared a provincial disaster.
Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for Q2 2025 shows national unemployment rising to 33.2%, up from 32.9% in Q1 and 31.9% at the end of 2024.
While the data reveals mixed trends across provinces, the North West remains the country’s biggest outlier.
Unemployment rates in South Africa tell a story
Between April and June 2025 159 000 people entered the labour force, yet only 19 000 secured jobs, while 140 000 joined the ranks of the unemployed.
The number of discouraged work-seekers—those who have stopped looking for jobs—fell slightly by 28 000. The expanded unemployment rate, which counts these job seekers, inched down from 43.1% to 42.9%.
The North West province faces the worst situation, with stats showing an official unemployment rate of 40.1% and an expanded rate of 54.7%.
These figures mean most adults in the province are either unemployed or have stopped searching for work, with about 14.6% of the unemployed having given up completely.