Free SA warns that the recent decline in South Africa’s official unemployment rate to 31.9% in Q3 2025 masks a dangerously unequal and unsustainable economic reality. Behind the headline figures, provinces like the Eastern Cape remain trapped in deepening joblessness, while nearly half of South Africa’s working-age population is underutilised, a hidden crisis that government continues to ignore.
“This is not recovery, it’s triage,” said Reuben Coetzer, spokesperson for Free SA. “We cannot celebrate a national average that conceals staggering provincial disparities and a labour underutilisation rate of 42.4%. These numbers reveal an economy in distress, not one on the mend.”
According to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), the Eastern Cape recorded the highest unemployment rate in the country at 41.2%, up from 39.5% in the previous quarter, a clear signal that the national approach is failing large parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Limpopo showed a decline in unemployment, but this has come to be expected, thanks to the cyclical nature of the economy in that Province.
“South Africa is not one economy, it’s many. National policy that ignores provincial realities is not just inefficient; it’s destructive,” Coetzer said. “The Eastern Cape’s economic isolation is a national emergency, and it demands bold, localised solutions.”
Free SA calls for decentralised economic policy-making and increased provincial autonomy to craft responses tailored to local challenges and opportunities.
Beyond the narrow definition of unemployment, the QLFS reveals a broader and more devastating picture: the composite labour underutilisation rate (LU4) stands at 42.4%, including those unemployed, underemployed, or too discouraged to seek work.
“When almost half the potential workforce is sidelined, the system isn’t malfunctioning, it’s broken,” said Coetzer. “This level of exclusion should be treated as an economic state of emergency.”
Government policy continues to respond with job summits, bureaucratic frameworks, and headline-chasing announcements. But Free SA insists these are cosmetic measures in the face of a systemic crisis.
While Q3 saw 248,000 jobs added and a 360,000 decline in the number of unemployed persons, Free SA cautions against interpreting this as meaningful progress.
“We must not mistake motion for momentum,” Coetzer warned. “Gains in sectors like Construction and Trade are welcome, but they’re not enough to reverse years of stagnation and policy failure.”
Worryingly, job losses were recorded in Manufacturing, Finance, and Utilities, sectors critical to long-term economic stability and industrial growth.
Free SA reiterates that only private sector-led reform can deliver the kind of employment growth South Africa desperately needs. This means:
- Cutting red tape and labour laws that prevent businesses from hiring
- Reducing tax and compliance burdens for SMEs
- Accelerating infrastructure and energy reform
- Creating local incentives that allow provincial economies to compete and thrive
“Jobs don’t come from speeches or slogans. They come from risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and investment, all of which are stifled by the state’s centralised, outdated economic model,” Coetzer concluded.
Free SA calls on government to move beyond misleading averages and media talking points. It is time to acknowledge the scale of the crisis and decentralise economic decision-making.
“If Pretoria continues to dictate economic policy from above, the Eastern Cape and provinces like it will remain in the economic wilderness. South Africa needs a radical shift in economic governance, or we risk becoming a country of permanent unemployment and wasted potential.”