This week, Stats SA announced changes to how it counts South Africa’s unemployed. As such, the government organisation explains it will implement a new Quarterly Labour Force (QLF) questionnaire. These takes effect from this month onwards, August 2025, relating to data of the third quarter of 2025.
Moreover, the change follows widespread criticism of Stats SA’s perceived ignorance of informal sector data. Specifically, the founder of Capitec, Gerrie Fourie, is advocating for a more-accurate depiction of the informal labour market.
SOUTH AFRICA’S UNEMPLOYED
These are some of the key changes we’ll see depicted, reports Daily Investor:
- ‘Employment’ is now more narrowly defined as – “Work done for pay or profit and mainly intended for others.”
- This excludes subsistence agriculture and other own-use production work, which was previously considered employment.
- A new framework distinguishes five forms of work: Own-use production work, employment, unpaid trainee work, volunteer work, and ‘other-work activities.’
- Previous ‘job-search’ criteria are no longer accepted. Therefore, unemployed are defined as those, “Not in employment, available for employment, or seeking employment.”
- Moreover, Stats SA will provide a ‘potential labour force’ figure. These are persons outside the labour force who are available for employment but who choose not to work.
Stats SA believes this is the first statistical ‘definition of work’ anywhere in the world. And these additional QLF indicators will provide a better understanding of South Africa’s unemployed.
FIRST OF ITS KIND
In the Q1 of 2025, Stats SA reported that South Africa’s official unemployment rate at 33%. However, experts say South Africa’s informal sector is estimated to be worth more than R700 billion. As such, it’s argued that South Africa’s unemployed are far lower than one-third of the population. Because it does not account for ‘off-the-books’ businesses in informal sectors, like spaza shops and backroom renters. Count these and the country’s unemployed rate is closer to 10%.
SHOULD THE INFORMAL SECTOR BE INCLUDED IN UNEMPLOYED STATS?
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