Newsflash from the North-West University: Labour market withdrawal is on the rise
Bizcommunity | 13.05.2026 17:57
South Africa’s labour market is not only producing unemployment. It is increasingly producing withdrawal. The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that employment declined by 345,000 in the first quarter of 2026, while labour force participation fell further to 59%. The official unemployment rate rose to 32.7%, yet beneath these headline figures lies a more unsettling pattern in which growing numbers of working-age South Africans are gradually disengaging from the labour market altogether.
