Agriculture was among the many hardest-hit sectors within the second quarter (Q2) of 2025’s employment statistics, putting joint second for probably the most jobs misplaced between 1 April to 30 June in contrast with the primary quarter of the 12 months.
Photograph: FW Archive
Agriculture and finance every shed simply over 24 000 jobs in Q2 2025, whereas the group and social companies sector misplaced 42 000, in keeping with information launched by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
Nevertheless, Thanda Sithole, senior economist at FNB, famous in a press launch that the 905 770 jobs the agriculture sector created in Q2 2025 was nonetheless 9 845 extra year-on-year.
The general unemployment price was up by 0,3 share factors, rising from 32,9% to 33,2%, with unemployment being the best in North West at 40,1%, adopted by the Jap Cape at 39,5%.
Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Drive Survey isn’t seasonally adjusted, therefore it displays seasonal fluctuations in employment that observe the manufacturing cycles of varied agricultural commodities.
Dawie Maree, head of agriculture info and advertising at FNB, ascribed the discount in employment in Q2 to the late begin of the summer season rains, which additionally delayed the beginning of the citrus season – a significant employer of seasonal labour.
“Though the grain sector isn’t a giant employer of seasonal labour, it nonetheless has a measure of seasonality, which might have contributed to the downward pattern. One other contributor would have been the outbreak of foot-and-mouth illness, which can not have shaved off numerous jobs for those who take a look at the general livestock sector, however it did play a task,” he mentioned.
Maree added that he anticipated this drop within the sector’s employment to be reversed within the third quarter, because the late summer season rains at first of the 12 months had already contributed to an uptick in employment throughout the assorted manufacturing industries.
Statistician-Normal Risenga Maluleke identified that over the last decade, the Western Cape’s unemployment price had persistently remained beneath South Africa’s nationwide common, whereas the Jap Cape had persistently recorded unemployment charges above it.
Between April and June 2025, unemployment charges within the Northern Cape and Western Cape have been beneath the nationwide common of 33,2%, at 32,7% and 21,1%, respectively.
Nevertheless, the Western Cape additionally recorded the most important quarterly drop in employment, falling by 117 000 jobs from the primary quarter (Q1) to Q2, adopted by KwaZulu-Natal with 86 000 fewer jobs, and the Northern Cape with 28 000 fewer. The largest beneficial properties have been in Gauteng, which added 95 000 jobs, and the Jap Cape, which added 89 000.
Unemployment stood at 38,5% within the Free State, 35% in Limpopo, 34% in Mpumalanga, 33,8% in Gauteng, and 33,4% in KwaZulu-Natal.
The sectors that added probably the most jobs in Q2 have been commerce, which gained 88 000; non-public households, up by 28 000, and mining, which elevated by 000.
Employment within the formal sector comprised 11,5 million jobs, or 68,2% of complete employment, in contrast with 3,3 million (19,8%) within the casual sector, 1,1 million (6,6%) in non-public households, and 906 000 (5,4%) in agriculture.
Sithole identified that youth unemployment remained “critically excessive”, with the jobless price for 15- to 24-year-olds at 62,2% in Q2, in contrast with 62,4% in Q1, and 60,8% within the fourth quarter (This autumn) of 2024.
Amongst 25- to 34-year-olds, unemployment stood at 40,5% in Q2, in contrast with 40,4% in Q1 and 41,7% in This autumn 2024.
“This underscores the pressing have to speed up pro-growth structural reforms that may drive sustainable and inclusive financial growth. Authorities’s diplomatic stance within the wake of the US’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs stays vital to mitigating potential job losses stemming from the results of those steep tariffs on South Africa’s [access to] the US market,” Sithole mentioned.
