The City of Cape Town has added 113,000 jobs year-on-year as the highest of the metros. It recorded employment of 1,895 million people working in the Mother City.
Reportedly, Cape Town also continues to lead South Africa’s cities with the lowest unemployment rate, now down to 19.8%, according to StatsSA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q4 2025.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis further stated that they are elated to see employment hit record levels in Cape Town, with 470,000 jobs added over the current local government term. City’s leading jobs growth and lowest unemployment rate is an encouraging sign that the city keeps heading in the right direction, even though there is still so much more to do in bringing down unemployment.
Their mission is to build a city of hope for all and, to keep making progress, as they are investing in a South African-record R40 billion in infrastructure over three years. Importantly, 75% of this spending will directly benefit lower income households, ensuring reliable infrastructure and service delivery into the future for Capetonians.
According to Lewis, they are especially overjoyed for everyone who found a job in the last year and can now make a meaningful difference for their families. The promise is to keep working at growing employment so that many more Capetonians can experience the dignity of work and a pathway out of poverty.
Cape Town’s unemployment rate fell below 20% for the first time since 2009, with the city showing rapid job gains in the fourth quarter of 2025. It was likely underpinned by the strong tourism sector performance. The metro showed improvements across all employment indicators, including labour participation rate, absorption rate, overall employment, and lower unemployment.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth and Tourism – Alderman James Vos stated that he is thrilled that Cape Town continues to add jobs at a record pace. This is a clear sign that the strategy to focus on high-growth sectors, includes manufacturing, tourism, hospitality, construction, technology, and financial services, that is paying off.
Through their Special Purpose Vehicle partnership programmes, they have been helping businesses set up, scale operations, and provide meaningful employment, while investing in skills training that makes business sense. These are the type of programmes that directly create opportunities for Capetonians, and seeing this translate into real jobs, which is incredibly rewarding.
Vos added that they still have a long way to go, but this shows that when strategy is deployed effectively in the economy, it delivers results that improve people’s lives.