The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) expresses deep alarm at the Q2 2025 Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa today. The results confirm that our country remains trapped in a jobs bloodbath, now facing an even greater threat from external economic aggression.
1. Unemployment Crisis Deepens
The official unemployment rate has risen to 33.2%, up from 32.9% in Q1 2025. More than 8.4 million South Africans are officially jobless. This is the second consecutive quarter of rising unemployment, a damning indictment of government’s failed economic policies.
The expanded unemployment rate remains at a staggering 42.9%, meaning nearly half of the working-age population is without work and many have given up looking entirely.
2. Women and Youth Left Behind
• Women: Unemployment among women is 35.9%, compared to 31.0% for men. Even among graduates, women face a 15.0% unemployment rate, versus 8.9% for men.
• Youth: Among 15–24 year-olds, unemployment stands at 62.2%, and 40.5% for those aged 25–34. This is a generation at risk of permanent exclusion from the economy.
3. Trump’s Tariffs Will Make This Catastrophe Worse
SAFTU warns that this crisis will spiral into an even deeper disaster once Donald Trump’s punitive 30% tariffs on South African exports take effect.
• These tariffs threaten to decimate jobs in manufacturing, mining, and agriculture, wiping out thousands of livelihoods.
• Trump’s trade war is not about fair competition—it is about punishing South Africa for pursuing an independent foreign policy, including our ICJ genocide case against Israel, and for refusing to surrender our sovereignty to U.S. imperialist dictates.
• If unchallenged, these tariffs will accelerate deindustrialisation, retrenchments, and rural job losses, further swelling the ranks of the unemployed.
4. SAFTU’s Demands in Response to Trump’s Tariffs
SAFTU reiterates the urgent demands it made in its earlier statement on Trump’s trade war:
1. Emergency Presidential Economic Summit: Bring together trade unions, progressive economists, and affected sectors to develop a united, sovereign response.
2. Diversify Trade: Fast-track engagement with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), BRICS+ partners, and other global South economies to reduce reliance on hostile markets.
3. Industrial Self-Reliance: Implement a state-led industrial strategy to rebuild local manufacturing capacity, protect strategic sectors, and create jobs.
4. Trade Defence Measures: Use all available multilateral and bilateral channels, including the WTO, to challenge unlawful and politically motivated trade measures.
5. Public Job Creation Programme: Launch an immediate, large-scale public employment drive in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and environmental restoration.
5. End Austerity – Invest in Jobs
This crisis cannot be met with budget cuts and austerity. SAFTU demands:
• The scrapping of austerity measures that have frozen public hiring and slashed social spending.
• Urgent redirection of public funds from wasteful elite consumption to mass job creation, social protection, and industrial development.
The QLFS shows that South Africa is already in a jobs emergency. With Trump’s 30% tariffs, the situation will go from bad to catastrophic unless the government acts decisively.
SAFTU will continue to mobilise the working class to resist both neoliberal economic failure at home and imperialist economic aggression from abroad
A Statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For more details, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
066 168 2157
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
