World Bank Open Data · CC BY 4.0 Some World Bank indicators are published with a lag. The site always shows the latest actually available year for each country and indicator.
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South Africa
Labor force, total

Labor force comprises people ages 15 and older who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. It includes people who are currently employed and people who are unemployed but seeking work as well as first-time job-seekers. Not everyone who works is included, however. Unpaid workers, family workers, and students are often omitted, and some countries do not count members of the armed forces. Labor force size tends to vary during the year as seasonal workers enter and leave.

Global rank#26out of 182 countries
Go to rankingOpenglobal ranking and map

Historical trend

27 M24 M21 M18 M15 M199020082025South Africa · 2025: 26,731,522.00South Africa

Analytical takeaways

  • South Africa records 26,731,522.00 for Labor force, total in 2025, ranking #26 globally out of 182 countries.
  • Labor force, total increased from 14,739,816.00 in 1990 to 26,731,522.00 in 2025, a gain of 11,991,706.00.
  • The country sits in the top quartile of the global distribution for this metric, making the page useful for leader-oriented high-intent searches.

Comparison

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