The Western Cape has recorded the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa, dropping to 19.7% in the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Statistics (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa.

The province’s unemployment rate has fallen from 21.1% in Quarter 2, marking a significant improvement and reinforcing the Western Cape’s position as the country’s leading job-creating region.

The new data shows that the province added 65,000 jobs year-on-year, while 70,000 jobs were created quarter-on-quarter, the highest job gains of any province for Q3 2025.

Premier Alan Winde said the results were a reflection of consistent collaboration between government and the private sector.

“This is the result of the hard work this government undertakes in partnership with businesses and companies in the Western Cape, building confidence and trust in pursuit of our apex priority of economic growth and job creation,” he said.

The news comes just days after the province concluded its inaugural Western Cape Investment Summit.

The summit secured six major investment declarations worth R50 billion, which are expected to help create an estimated 45,000 jobs over the coming years.

Premier Winde said these investments were a powerful signal of confidence in the province’s economy.

“These figures are especially encouraging as we just concluded the first Western Cape Investment Summit, where we helped to enable 6 major investment declarations for the province, worth R50 billion,” he said.

Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism, Dr Ivan Meyer, said the province was steadily moving toward its long-term employment target.

“The data is very encouraging as it takes us another step closer to realising our goal of 600,000 new jobs by 2035 as outlined in the Western Cape Government’s Growth for Jobs (G4J) Strategy,” Meyer said.

Despite the positive trend, Winde stressed that there was still more work to do to ensure inclusive growth across the province.

“We must continue to work as hard as we can. We will intensify efforts to attract and support investment into critical sectors of the provincial economy, including tourism, manufacturing, agribusiness, and services, so that job growth accelerates and reaches all corners of the province,” he said.

IOL News

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