This paper summarises the findings of four recent papers by the authors on different aspects of unemployment in South Africa. Based on statistical analysis using household datasets, the papers are concerned with the impact of local unemployment on local wages; the appropriate definition and measure of unemployment in the particular circumstances of the South African labour market; the nature of unemployment, i.e. the extent to which it can be described as voluntary; and the pattern of incidence of unemployment, with particular focus on explaining the large racial gap in the unemployment rate.