Western Cape maintains lowest unemployment rate in SA, business and finance sector creates 121 000 jobs

14 August 2024

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released by Statistics South Africa yesterday, the Western Cape has maintained the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa at 22.2% (in quarter two of 2024).

The province’s business and finance services sector created 121 000 jobs year-on-year,  between quarter two of 2023 and quarter one of 2024.

The latest figures show that the Western Cape continues to have:

The lowest official unemployment rate in the country at 22.2%,

The lowest expanded unemployment rate in South Africa at 27.3%

The highest labour absorption rate in South Africa, at 52.9%.

The highest labour force participation rate in SA, at 68.1%

Premier Alan Winde said, “It is still easier to find employment opportunities in the Western Cape. Our Growth For Jobs strategy - now more than a year into its implementation - is building an enabling job creation environment for the private sector that takes into consideration a wide range of factors and challenges that need to be urgently addressed to push down the unemployment rate. Our plans and priorities for the next 5 years are all aimed at tackling the most pressing issues facing our residents in order to keep growing the economy. This includes doubling down on our efforts to attract more job-enabling investment.”

He stressed, “We clearly have a lot more work to do amid a severely constrained budgetary environment. In order to further enable the growth of the economy, we will not give up in fighting for our province’s fair share of funding to intensify our job creation efforts.

Provincially, the biggest job losses were in the agriculture sector, which employed 38 000 fewer people in quarter 2 of the current financial year, compared to the same quarter last year.

Commenting on the decrease in agricultural jobs in the Western Cape in the period under review, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism, Dr. Ivan Meyer, said, “The numbers reflect the seasonality of the agricultural sector. Job numbers in quarter 1 and quarter 4 are traditionally higher than in quarter 2 and quarter 3. The province has also been hit by several severe storms, flooding, and strong winds, which have damaged agricultural infrastructure, severely impacting farming,” added the Minister.

“The Western Cape Government (WCG) remains resolute in achieving breakout economic growth to create more jobs”, concluded Minister Meyer.

Issued by Regan Thaw, Media Liaison Officer, Office of the Premier, 14 August 2024