By Lebone Rodah Mosima
eThekwini Municipality has recorded the lowest official unemployment rate among South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities, after falling by 5.6 percentage points year-on-year.
According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of 2026, released by Statistics South Africa on Wednesday, eThekwini’s unemployment rate fell to 21.2% between April and June 2026, from 26.8% in the same quarter last year.
The rate was lower than Cape Town’s 21.9% and significantly below the national unemployment rate of 33.6%.
The municipality said the number of employed residents increased to 1.29 million, up by 90,000 compared with the second quarter of 2025.
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“Over the same period, unemployed residents fell by 92,000 to 347,000, making eThekwini the only metro to record declines both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year,” the municipality said.
The city’s absorption rate, which measures the share of working-age residents in employment, increased to 46.9% from 44.2% a year earlier, representing the largest improvement among the metros.
eThekwini said employment growth was mainly driven by the formal sector, which employed 948,000 people in the second quarter, an increase of 32,000 from the previous quarter.
The expanded measure of labour underutilisation, which includes discouraged work-seekers and part-time workers seeking more hours, also fell to 40.2% from 44.2% a year earlier.
“By contrast, the national equivalent rose over the same period,” eThekwini said.
Mayor Cyril Xaba said the figures reflected the city’s efforts to stabilise its investment environment.
“These figures show that the fundamentals we have been working on, which include infrastructure, investment facilitation, and support for the industrial and tourism sectors, are translating into jobs for our residents,” Xaba said.
“We do not read this as a finish line. More than 340,000 people in this city are still looking for work, and our absorption rate must go higher. But the direction of travel is correct and we intend to sustain it.”
The municipality said unemployment remained the most significant challenge facing residents.
It said it would continue prioritising infrastructure investment, supporting small businesses and strengthening partnerships with the private sector to expand employment opportunities.
The full Quarterly Labour Force Survey is available on the Statistics South Africa website.
