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South Africa - Labor Force Participation 2017

Name: South Africa Labor Force Participation 2017
Creator: World Bank
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Labor force participation rate · World Bank

55.36% +0.65pp from 2016 Global rank: 140th

South Africa's labor force participation was 55.36% in 2017, increased +0.65pp from 54.71% in 2016. This was the 140th highest globally.

Global Ranking - 2017▾

Labor Force Participation by Country - 2017
Rank	Country	Value	YoY
1st	Qatar	87.50%	0.0%
2nd	Madagascar	85.65%	-0.2%
3rd	Solomon Islands	84.32%	0.0%
4th	Tanzania	83.86%	0.0%
5th	Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of	82.09%	0.1%
6th	Cambodia	81.41%	-0.4%
7th	Nigeria	80.89%	0.1%
8th	Burundi	80.09%	0.2%
9th	Eritrea	79.00%	-0.1%
10th	Mozambique	78.98%	0.0%
11th	United Arab Emirates	78.76%	0.4%
12th	Burkina Faso	78.12%	-0.3%
13th	Viet Nam	77.20%	0.3%
14th	Peru	77.00%	2.1%
15th	Liberia	76.91%	0.0%
16th	Iceland	76.89%	-0.7%
17th	Angola	75.61%	-0.4%
18th	Benin	74.32%	0.5%
19th	South Sudan	74.27%	0.4%
20th	Bahamas, The	74.16%	0.2%
21st	Central African Republic	73.43%	0.0%
22nd	Kuwait	73.39%	0.9%
23rd	Niger	72.89%	-0.3%
24th	Bahrain	72.39%	0.6%
25th	Kenya	72.31%	-2.8%
26th	Uganda	71.76%	-2.7%
27th	Paraguay	71.04%	1.5%
28th	Oman	70.71%	0.6%
29th	New Zealand	70.48%	1.3%
30th	Kazakhstan	70.23%	-0.1%
31st	Macao SAR, China	69.86%	-0.3%
32nd	St. Lucia	69.37%	0.0%
33rd	Cameroon	69.31%	-1.3%
34th	Mali	69.16%	-1.0%
35th	Singapore	68.94%	-0.4%
36th	Bolivia, Plurinational State of	68.63%	1.9%
37th	Switzerland	68.54%	-0.2%
38th	China	68.35%	-0.8%
39th	Moldova	68.33%	-2.3%
40th	Congo, Republic of	68.16%	0.0%
41st	Ecuador	68.15%	0.7%
42nd	Thailand	67.53%	-1.2%
43rd	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	67.13%	0.2%
44th	Timor-Leste	67.06%	0.4%
45th	Ghana	66.86%	-1.8%
46th	Indonesia	66.69%	0.6%
47th	Barbados	66.17%	0.2%
48th	Netherlands	66.13%	-0.2%
49th	Côte d'Ivoire	66.12%	-1.1%
50th	Colombia	66.01%	-0.6%
51st	Zimbabwe	65.99%	-0.1%
52nd	Haiti	65.92%	0.1%
53rd	Panama	65.87%	-0.5%
54th	Georgia	65.83%	-0.3%
55th	Canada	65.79%	0.2%
56th	Jamaica	65.67%	1.2%
57th	Norway	65.66%	-0.8%
58th	Israel	65.49%	-0.2%
59th	Nicaragua	65.33%	0.2%
60th	Australia	65.25%	0.5%
61st	Malaysia	65.20%	0.2%
62nd	Brunei Darussalam	65.19%	-0.4%
63rd	Azerbaijan	65.04%	0.6%
64th	Congo, Democratic Republic of	64.76%	-0.4%
65th	Brazil	64.53%	0.4%
66th	Belarus	64.48%	0.1%
67th	Sweden	64.39%	0.5%
68th	Cyprus	64.38%	1.0%
69th	Honduras	64.36%	1.6%
70th	Uruguay	64.11%	-0.8%
71st	Belize	64.03%	-0.3%
72nd	Malawi	63.47%	-2.7%
73rd	Estonia	63.24%	1.0%
74th	Guinea-Bissau	63.00%	-0.1%
75th	Chile	62.95%	1.0%
76th	Korea	62.91%	0.5%
77th	Bhutan	62.78%	-0.3%
78th	Botswana	62.77%	0.5%
79th	United States	62.55%	0.2%
80th	Russian Federation	62.50%	-0.6%
81st	United Kingdom	62.41%	0.0%
82nd	Dominican Republic	62.37%	-0.1%
83rd	Guam	62.36%	-0.1%
84th	Myanmar	62.02%	-2.1%
85th	Ireland	61.92%	-0.3%
86th	Denmark	61.83%	0.1%
87th	Trinidad and Tobago	61.56%	-0.8%
88th	Armenia	61.46%	-0.3%
89th	Equatorial Guinea	61.31%	0.2%
90th	Guatemala	60.94%	0.4%
91st	Latvia	60.79%	0.7%
92nd	Austria	60.67%	-0.1%
93rd	Germany	60.66%	0.4%
94th	Lithuania	60.61%	0.5%
95th	Chad	60.51%	-0.9%
96th	Hong Kong SAR, China	60.47%	0.1%
97th	Rwanda	60.46%	-0.2%
98th	Japan	60.44%	0.8%
99th	Lesotho	60.24%	-2.1%
100th	Mexico	60.21%	-0.4%
101st	New Caledonia	60.21%	-2.0%
102nd	Czechia	60.07%	0.4%
103rd	Vanuatu	59.91%	-1.1%
104th	Slovak Republic	59.89%	-0.2%
105th	Mauritius	59.89%	0.4%
106th	Costa Rica	59.85%	0.3%
107th	Lao PDR	59.78%	-0.2%
108th	Namibia	59.67%	-1.3%
109th	Maldives	59.18%	4.0%
110th	Cabo Verde	59.18%	0.0%
111th	Philippines	59.14%	-4.0%
112th	Mongolia	59.14%	1.3%
113th	Virgin Islands (US)	59.14%	1.4%
114th	El Salvador	59.01%	-0.4%
115th	Saudi Arabia	58.99%	-2.8%
116th	Portugal	58.88%	0.8%
117th	Argentina	58.81%	-0.4%
118th	Channel Islands	58.74%	-0.3%
119th	Luxembourg	58.74%	-0.6%
120th	Finland	58.67%	0.2%
121st	Zambia	58.58%	-0.2%
122nd	Slovenia	58.55%	3.0%
123rd	Bangladesh	58.33%	4.0%
124th	Togo	58.07%	-0.1%
125th	Albania	58.06%	1.3%
126th	Spain	58.05%	-0.5%
127th	Hungary	57.83%	0.9%
128th	Malta	57.66%	1.9%
129th	Poland	57.56%	0.4%
130th	Fiji	57.46%	-0.2%
131st	European Union	57.00%	0.3%
132nd	Kyrgyz Republic	56.87%	-4.0%
133rd	Uzbekistan	56.47%	0.0%
134th	Ukraine	56.31%	0.0%
135th	Suriname	56.14%	0.0%
136th	French Polynesia	55.82%	-0.1%
137th	Guyana	55.60%	-0.1%
138th	Cuba	55.56%	0.0%
139th	Bulgaria	55.41%	3.9%
140th	South Africa	55.36%	1.2%
141st	France	55.26%	-0.3%
142nd	Sierra Leone	54.68%	-1.4%
143rd	Samoa	54.43%	-0.1%
144th	Tonga	54.35%	-0.6%
145th	Guinea	54.28%	-1.3%
146th	Sri Lanka	53.99%	0.5%
147th	Serbia	53.55%	1.1%
148th	Belgium	53.34%	0.3%
149th	North Macedonia	53.16%	-0.5%
150th	Türkiye	52.83%	1.6%
151st	India	52.67%	-0.3%
152nd	Montenegro	52.64%	-0.2%
153rd	Romania	51.84%	1.8%
154th	Croatia	51.39%	0.4%
155th	Pakistan	51.34%	-0.7%
156th	Gabon	51.04%	0.6%
157th	Greece	51.02%	-0.2%
158th	Eswatini	50.84%	-0.6%
159th	Papua New Guinea	50.42%	0.7%
160th	Italy	49.50%	0.7%
161st	Bosnia and Herzegovina	49.41%	-0.4%
162nd	Libya	49.33%	-0.1%
163rd	Comoros	49.25%	3.3%
164th	Lebanon	47.97%	1.0%
165th	Gambia, The	47.77%	0.0%
166th	Tunisia	47.49%	-0.5%
167th	Afghanistan	47.31%	0.1%
168th	Senegal	46.00%	-8.2%
169th	Morocco	45.50%	-2.3%
170th	Egypt, Arab Republic of	44.95%	-3.6%
171st	Iran, Islamic Republic of	44.24%	2.5%
172nd	West Bank and Gaza	44.00%	0.5%
173rd	Turkmenistan	43.12%	-0.5%
174th	Sudan	42.41%	-2.5%
175th	Algeria	42.33%	0.0%
176th	Iraq	41.89%	-2.9%
177th	Mauritania	41.10%	-1.2%
178th	Jordan	40.23%	3.3%
179th	Nepal	39.92%	-0.5%
180th	Tajikistan	38.88%	-2.1%
181st	Puerto Rico (US)	38.24%	0.2%
182nd	Syrian Arab Republic	37.74%	0.1%
183rd	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	34.10%	-0.1%
184th	Yemen, Republic of	32.47%	0.6%
185th	Djibouti	32.27%	-0.5%
186th	São Tomé and Principe	23.88%	-0.3%

FAQ

What was South Africa's labor force participation in 2017?▾

South Africa's labor force participation in 2017 was 55.36%. This ranked 140th globally.

How did South Africa's labor force participation change in 2017?▾

South Africa's labor force participation increased by 1.2% in 2017 compared to 2016.

Which country had the highest labor force participation in 2017?▾

Qatar had the highest labor force participation in 2017 at 87.50%.

What is the labor force participation of South Africa in 2017?▾

The labor force participation of South Africa in 2017 was 55.36%. This ranked 140th globally.

How does 2017 compare to 2016 for South Africa's labor force participation?▾

South Africa's labor force participation went from 54.71% in 2016 to 55.36% in 2017, a 1.2% increase.

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