BHISHO- The Eastern Cape’s unemployment crisis has deepened, with the province’s official unemployment rate climbing to 47.5% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday.
The latest figure is up sharply from 44.6% in the first quarter and from 39.5% a year earlier, putting the Eastern Cape at the top of South Africa’s provincial unemployment rankings.
The province has also shed about 116,000 jobs over the past 12 months, highlighting the mounting pressure on households and communities already struggling with weak local economies.
According to the latest figures, about 13,000 more people found work during the second quarter, but the number of people entering the labour force increased by about 160,000 from 2.405 million to 2.565 million. The result is that the number of people looking for work has grown far faster than the number of available jobs.
The figures point to a growing pool of Eastern Cape residents entering the labour market in search of opportunities, only to find that the economy is unable to absorb them.
The situation is particularly severe outside the province’s metropolitan areas. In the Eastern Cape’s non-metropolitan areas, official unemployment has risen to 56.5%, while the broader LU3 measure, which includes unemployed people and those who are available for work but are not actively looking, has reached 63.2%.
The latest figures underline the scale of the economic challenge facing smaller towns and rural communities across the province.
Reacting to the latest figures, Democratic Alliance(DA) Leader in the province at the Eastern Cape Legislature, Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL, said the province’s unemployment crisis has reached catastrophic levels.
“For families across the province, this crisis has reached catastrophic levels. It means empty cupboards, unpaid bills, young people trapped at home without opportunity and communities where work has become the exception rather than the norm,” Knoetze said.
Knoetze said the province recorded the worst year-on-year increase in unemployment in South Africa, with unemployment rising by 5.3 percentage points, and now has the lowest absorption rate in the country at just 28.7%.
“Businesses cannot expand where municipalities cannot provide reliable water, electricity, roads, and basic services. Investors will not commit where infrastructure is failing, logistics are weak and suppliers are not paid on time. Small businesses cannot survive in towns where local government has become a barrier to economic activity,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance said it warned on Workers’ Day that the Eastern Cape needs a credible and comprehensive jobs and poverty intervention strategy and handed a memorandum to Premier Oscar Mabuyane demanding a practical provincial plan to address poor basic service delivery, the collapse of local government, and pressure on the automotive sector.
Furthmore, the party intends asking the Eastern Cape legislature to hold a debate on a matter of public importance focusing on the province’s migration and economic decline crisis. The proposed debate is expected to focus on measures to attract investment, retain skilled residents and create sustainable employment opportunities.
The DA argues that fixing municipalities should therefore be treated not only as a service-delivery priority but also as an economic priority. Investment is more likely to follow towns and cities where businesses can operate with certainty and where basic services are reliable.
In addition over the past decade, close to one million people have moved from the Eastern Cape to other provinces, according to figures cited in the debate around the province’s long-term population decline. That movement has economic consequences for communities left behind, including a smaller consumer base, a reduced skills pool and pressure on the province’s ability to generate local economic activity.
For the Eastern Cape, the challenge is increasingly about creating local economies capable of giving residents a reason to stay.
Photograph: Internet/Supplied
Amahle July
11 August 2026
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