South Africa’s unemployment eases, with one province holding country back…
Seven out of the nine South African provinces saw their unemployment rates decrease, with one province moving in the opposite direction.
The Eastern Cape continues to lag to national recovery efforts, as Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealing that the province was the only one in the country to shed employment in quarter three of 2025, recording a devastating loss of 53 000 jobs.
The coastal province was the lone drag on South Africa’s overall job creation efforts, having recorded the only employment loss during Q3 2025, according Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey: Third Quarter 2025, released on Tuesday.
This disastrous result, however, occurred even as total employment across the country surged, with the national jobs count increasing by 248 000 persons, to reach 17.1 million. The overall surge in jobs helped pull the official unemployment rate down by 1.3 percentage points to 31.9% nationally.
Eastern Cape unemployment spirals upwards
While seven out of the nine provinces saw their unemployment rates decrease quarter-on-quarter (Mpumalanga remained unchanged from last quarters), the Eastern Cape once again moved in the opposite direction.
The province saw its official unemployment rate jump by 1.7 percentage points to a staggering 41.2% in Q3 2025, up from 39.5% in the previous quarter.
The grim job data reflects a deeply ingrained problem in the province. Year-on-year figures show that between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, the Eastern Cape shed 43 000 jobs, representing a decline of 3.0%.
The combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force (LU3), which provides a broader measure of labour underutilisation, stood at 50.2% in the Eastern Cape, the second highest in the nation.
This measure highlights that nearly half the potential workforce in the province is either unemployed, seeking work but unavailable, or discouraged.
Economic contraction adds to misery
The latest employment figures follow a troubling trend of economic hardship in the Eastern Cape.
According to official 2024 data, the Eastern Cape economy saw negative real growth, contracting by -0.2%. This contraction paints a worrying picture for regional development and jobs, especially given that the province relies heavily on personal services, which contribute 23% to its economic structure.
Province uses nearly 65% of its budget on salaries
Adding to the province’s woes is its massive administrative expenditure. The Eastern Cape dedicates the largest portion of its entire budget to employee salaries nationwide.
For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, nearly 64.93% of the Eastern Cape government’s total expenditure of R92 062 million went directly towards compensating staff.
The province’s economic situation forces many citizens into non-market activities, further highlighting the labour market failure. In Q3 2025, according to Stats SA, 477 000 people in the Eastern Cape were engaged in subsistence farming, and 913 000 were involved in fetching water or collecting wood/dung.