Big changes to working hours in South Africa

• The labour market in South Africa has experienced significant changes, with short-hour and part-time employment growing faster than the standard 40-hour week over the past 16 years.
• The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) report shows that employment fell by 16,000 to 16.74 million between April and June, while unemployment increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million.
• The official unemployment rate increased by 0.9 percentage points to 33.6%, and the broader underutilisation measures indicate that the problem extends beyond people who are officially unemployed.