Almost one in four working-age South Africans lives in three metros in Gauteng – Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg – and fewer of them are employed now than in 2015.
In September this year 4.35-million people had jobs compared with 4.4-million people in the same quarter of 2015. This is a drop of 50,000, according to the latest employment data by Stats SA.
However, between 2015 and 2022 the working age population (15-64 years) in these metros has increased by 1.2-million from 8.3-million to 9.5-million.
The decrease in the number of people employed was because of Ekurhuleni which shed over 110,000 jobs between 2015 and 2022.
![](https://editor.mediahack.co.za/theoutlier/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/12/Group-5-1-600x600.png)
Cape Town and eThekwini both have more people working now than in 2015
In KwaZulu-Natal, eThekwini has the fifth biggest working-age population and the number of people working has increased from 1.1-million to 1.2-million between 2015 and 2022.
Cape Town has the second largest working-age population in the country and the second largest number of working people outside of Johannesburg.
The number of people employed in the city has grown slightly from 1.47-million to 1.5-million over the past five years.
![](https://editor.mediahack.co.za/theoutlier/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/12/Full-Metro-Map-600x600.png)