South Africa’s manufacturing sector lost 45,995 jobs in two years

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, revealed that South Africa’s manufacturing sector lost 45,995 jobs in two years.

He shared this information in response to a Parliamentary question from National Assembly member Siyabonga Gama.

Gama asked Tau for details about the continuing deindustrialisation and manufacturing job losses in South Africa.

He asked how many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past three financial years and which major industrial sectors have experienced the largest declines.

He also asked what measurable interventions his department has implemented to reignite the manufacturing sector and thereby reverse the trend.

Tau responded, saying manufacturing employment increased by 11,103 jobs in the 2024 financial year, reaching a peak of 1.31 million workers.

However, this positive performance was reversed, with the sector recording consecutive employment losses in the years that followed.

South Africa lost 23,201 manufacturing jobs in the 2025 financial year and another 22,794 in the 2026 financial year. This equates to 45,995 jobs lost in two years.

“Over the three years from 2023 to 2026, manufacturing employment declined by a net 34,892 jobs, representing a 2.69% contraction relative to the baseline,” he said.

Tau said that this information, provided by Statistics South Africa, points to a structural and uneven contraction in manufacturing employment.

He said the losses were concentrated in several industries, including the wood and paper-related industries, chemicals and plastics, furniture, and textiles.

“Together, these industries account for 31,429 jobs lost, or approximately 90% of the total net manufacturing employment decline,” he said.

He added that the contraction has been most severe in long steel production, particularly following the closure of Newcastle steelworks.

This resulted in the loss of approximately 3,500 direct jobs, with additional impacts across the supply chains.

Interventions to reignite manufacturing in South Africa

Tau said that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition continues to implement trade and industrial policy measures to support industrialisation.

“Industrialisation is a shared responsibility that requires stronger collaboration among government, business, labour, educational institutions, and civil society,” he said.

The Minister added that a key pillar of this effort is the implementation of nine Sector Master Plans.

This plan covers automotive, clothing and textiles, leather and footwear, sugar, poultry, steel, medical devices, global business services, furniture, hemp and cannabis.

These Master Plans provide established platforms for cooperation between government, business and labour.

“The plans will support investment, localisation, competitiveness, industrial expansion, and job creation,” he said.

The recently approved Industrial Development Strategy (IDS) also places manufacturing at the centre of South Africa’s industrialisation agenda.

“It focuses on strengthening domestic productive capacity through dynamic and competitive firms and sectors,” he said.

Complementing this strategy, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) continue to attract domestic and foreign investment.

These zones also support specialised industrial clusters, drive infrastructure development, promote technology transfer, and strengthen export performance.

Tau said there are numerous other interventions to strengthen productive capacity, deepen industrialisation, diversify exports, and attract investment.

“However, the success of the Industrial Development Strategy will depend on a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach,” he said.

“We need active participation from business, labour, DFIs, state-owned entities, and civil society to drive sustained industrial growth and job creation.”

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Manufacturing employment

Financial Year	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	2025-2026
Total employment	1,298,165	1,309,268	1,286,067	1,263,273
Annual employment gains or losses	—	11 103	-23,201	-22,794
Annual Variance (%)	—	+0.86	-1.77%	-1.77%

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Industrial Sectors experiencing major declines

Industries	Number of Jobs lost (2023/24-2025/26)
Wood and products of wood and cork,	-10,487
Coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel; chemicals and chemical products; rubber and plastic	-8,011
Furniture, manufacturing n.e.c.; recyling	-7,677
Textiles, clothing and leather	-5,254
Non-metallic mineral products	-4,279
Electrical machinery and apparatus n.e.c.	-2,809
Basic metals, fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment and office, accounting and computing machinery	-2,796

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