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South Africa - Labor Force Participation 2022

Name: South Africa Labor Force Participation 2022
Creator: World Bank
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Labor force participation rate · World Bank

53.50% +1.48pp from 2021 Global rank: 145th

South Africa's labor force participation was 53.50% in 2022, increased +1.48pp from 52.02% in 2021. This was the 145th highest globally.

Global Ranking - 2022▾

Labor Force Participation by Country - 2022
Rank	Country	Value	YoY
1st	Qatar	87.58%	1.4%
2nd	Madagascar	85.45%	0.5%
3rd	Solomon Islands	84.28%	0.4%
4th	Tanzania	83.77%	0.0%
5th	Cambodia	82.34%	3.6%
6th	Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of	82.15%	1.8%
7th	Nigeria	81.27%	1.4%
8th	Uganda	80.03%	0.9%
9th	Niger	79.61%	4.0%
10th	Burundi	79.10%	0.0%
11th	Mozambique	78.82%	1.0%
12th	Eritrea	78.35%	0.5%
13th	Bolivia, Plurinational State of	78.27%	0.6%
14th	United Arab Emirates	77.24%	0.2%
15th	Liberia	76.69%	0.5%
16th	Benin	76.28%	0.3%
17th	Angola	75.25%	-1.5%
18th	Viet Nam	74.48%	1.0%
19th	Peru	74.47%	3.5%
20th	Iceland	74.47%	1.4%
21st	Kuwait	74.35%	5.3%
22nd	Bahamas, The	74.15%	6.4%
23rd	South Sudan	73.54%	0.0%
24th	Central African Republic	73.43%	1.1%
25th	Moldova	72.53%	0.0%
26th	Burkina Faso	72.34%	-2.2%
27th	New Zealand	70.93%	0.8%
28th	Paraguay	70.58%	-1.9%
29th	Bahrain	70.29%	2.0%
30th	Kazakhstan	70.20%	1.2%
31st	Singapore	69.73%	-1.3%
32nd	St. Lucia	69.16%	5.6%
33rd	Oman	68.25%	3.8%
34th	Congo, Republic of	67.95%	3.7%
35th	Jamaica	67.65%	3.0%
36th	Cyprus	67.62%	1.7%
37th	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	67.55%	1.2%
38th	Kenya	67.50%	0.1%
39th	Mali	67.24%	0.7%
40th	Netherlands	67.23%	1.0%
41st	Thailand	67.18%	0.3%
42nd	Côte d'Ivoire	67.15%	1.4%
43rd	Switzerland	67.08%	-1.0%
44th	Indonesia	67.02%	1.7%
45th	Australia	66.89%	1.1%
46th	Macao SAR, China	66.65%	-3.3%
47th	Timor-Leste	66.56%	0.1%
48th	Panama	66.32%	5.6%
49th	Malaysia	66.22%	0.9%
50th	Lao PDR	66.00%	2.1%
51st	Norway	65.96%	0.4%
52nd	Ecuador	65.83%	0.2%
53rd	China	65.80%	-2.0%
54th	Nicaragua	65.64%	0.6%
55th	Cameroon	65.58%	0.4%
56th	Barbados	65.35%	4.7%
57th	Canada	65.25%	0.1%
58th	Zimbabwe	65.21%	-0.3%
59th	Estonia	65.11%	3.0%
60th	Guinea-Bissau	64.84%	1.7%
61st	Haiti	64.80%	-1.4%
62nd	Azerbaijan	64.78%	1.7%
63rd	Israel	64.74%	2.2%
64th	Botswana	64.62%	1.0%
65th	Sweden	64.56%	0.6%
66th	Ireland	64.44%	1.4%
67th	Congo, Democratic Republic of	64.36%	1.2%
68th	Brunei Darussalam	64.08%	0.3%
69th	Belarus	64.04%	0.0%
70th	Malta	64.00%	2.5%
71st	Saudi Arabia	63.80%	0.5%
72nd	Korea	63.79%	2.0%
73rd	Georgia	63.69%	4.4%
74th	Brazil	63.53%	1.7%
75th	Denmark	63.50%	1.3%
76th	Maldives	63.42%	6.1%
77th	Dominican Republic	63.22%	0.1%
78th	Uruguay	63.18%	0.5%
79th	Colombia	63.16%	-1.8%
80th	Bhutan	63.09%	-8.7%
81st	Malawi	63.07%	0.2%
82nd	Lithuania	62.75%	0.7%
83rd	Mongolia	62.61%	2.3%
84th	Japan	62.50%	0.7%
85th	Guam	62.19%	4.3%
86th	Albania	62.16%	4.2%
87th	Russian Federation	61.94%	0.0%
88th	United Kingdom	61.91%	-0.1%
89th	Bangladesh	61.87%	1.3%
90th	United States	61.79%	0.5%
91st	Costa Rica	61.49%	-0.4%
92nd	Argentina	61.48%	1.9%
93rd	Philippines	61.44%	8.8%
94th	Slovak Republic	61.16%	1.6%
95th	Equatorial Guinea	61.13%	6.0%
96th	Mexico	60.95%	1.7%
97th	Luxembourg	60.94%	-0.9%
98th	Latvia	60.94%	1.4%
99th	Austria	60.88%	0.4%
100th	Germany	60.84%	0.7%
101st	Finland	60.42%	1.1%
102nd	Guatemala	60.24%	-4.3%
103rd	Rwanda	60.16%	3.4%
104th	Chile	60.14%	4.5%
105th	El Salvador	60.08%	1.5%
106th	Czechia	59.87%	0.7%
107th	Hungary	59.86%	1.3%
108th	Chad	59.79%	0.8%
109th	Zambia	59.53%	-0.9%
110th	Kyrgyz Republic	59.18%	0.3%
111th	Ghana	59.10%	-2.1%
112th	Slovenia	59.05%	1.2%
113th	Poland	58.95%	0.4%
114th	Namibia	58.91%	4.3%
115th	Armenia	58.82%	-5.1%
116th	Honduras	58.64%	-3.4%
117th	Vanuatu	58.43%	0.2%
118th	Trinidad and Tobago	58.35%	1.2%
119th	Belize	58.32%	-3.4%
120th	Togo	57.94%	0.4%
121st	Hong Kong SAR, China	57.85%	-1.5%
122nd	Portugal	57.79%	1.7%
123rd	Channel Islands	57.73%	-0.2%
124th	Uzbekistan	57.69%	3.0%
125th	New Caledonia	57.59%	0.4%
126th	Spain	57.57%	0.5%
127th	Lesotho	57.50%	1.2%
128th	European Union	57.47%	0.9%
129th	Cabo Verde	57.20%	5.6%
130th	Fiji	57.12%	4.9%
131st	Serbia	57.07%	1.6%
132nd	Bulgaria	56.74%	2.4%
133rd	France	55.84%	0.5%
134th	Mauritius	55.56%	5.7%
135th	Montenegro	55.48%	15.3%
136th	Comoros	55.47%	0.5%
137th	Myanmar	55.22%	0.0%
138th	Belgium	54.58%	1.0%
139th	Virgin Islands (US)	54.52%	1.8%
140th	Guyana	54.02%	5.5%
141st	French Polynesia	53.96%	-0.5%
142nd	Cuba	53.67%	1.7%
143rd	Sierra Leone	53.67%	0.1%
144th	India	53.59%	2.0%
145th	South Africa	53.50%	2.8%
146th	Suriname	53.41%	0.3%
147th	Türkiye	53.06%	3.3%
148th	North Macedonia	52.93%	2.5%
149th	Guinea	52.82%	0.4%
150th	Romania	52.64%	0.3%
151st	Croatia	52.51%	0.9%
152nd	Pakistan	52.41%	-0.6%
153rd	Papua New Guinea	51.99%	0.6%
154th	Senegal	51.95%	0.5%
155th	Greece	51.83%	3.0%
156th	Gabon	51.58%	6.3%
157th	Tonga	51.38%	-1.1%
158th	Eswatini	50.43%	1.5%
159th	Sri Lanka	49.73%	-0.2%
160th	Italy	49.03%	1.2%
161st	Bosnia and Herzegovina	48.84%	2.4%
162nd	Libya	48.73%	7.2%
163rd	Gambia, The	47.60%	-0.1%
164th	Tunisia	46.40%	2.6%
165th	West Bank and Gaza	44.99%	3.7%
166th	Morocco	44.30%	-2.2%
167th	Samoa	43.73%	-4.1%
168th	Lebanon	43.40%	-4.7%
169th	Egypt, Arab Republic of	42.84%	-0.3%
170th	Turkmenistan	42.20%	1.2%
171st	Puerto Rico (US)	41.83%	1.3%
172nd	Algeria	41.80%	8.8%
173rd	Iraq	41.48%	4.6%
174th	Mauritania	40.94%	0.6%
175th	Iran, Islamic Republic of	40.56%	-1.2%
176th	Nepal	39.43%	-0.2%
177th	Jordan	38.56%	-0.3%
178th	Tajikistan	37.83%	2.0%
179th	Afghanistan	37.64%	-7.5%
180th	Sudan	37.52%	-2.2%
181st	Syrian Arab Republic	37.33%	2.7%
182nd	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	33.92%	0.6%
183rd	Yemen, Republic of	33.03%	2.2%
184th	Djibouti	31.79%	0.0%
185th	São Tomé and Principe	23.51%	0.9%

FAQ

What was South Africa's labor force participation in 2022?▾

South Africa's labor force participation in 2022 was 53.50%. This ranked 145th globally.

How did South Africa's labor force participation change in 2022?▾

South Africa's labor force participation increased by 2.8% in 2022 compared to 2021.

Which country had the highest labor force participation in 2022?▾

Qatar had the highest labor force participation in 2022 at 87.58%.

What is the labor force participation of South Africa in 2022?▾

The labor force participation of South Africa in 2022 was 53.50%. This ranked 145th globally.

How does 2022 compare to 2021 for South Africa's labor force participation?▾

South Africa's labor force participation went from 52.02% in 2021 to 53.50% in 2022, a 2.8% increase.

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