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Johannesburg - If the government is serious about capping the size of the civil service, new jobs may go from scarce to nonexistent, reports City Press.
The latest formal sector jobs numbers released by Stats SA this week again underline the country’s shrinking industrial base – and the overwhelming importance of government jobs for softening the unemployment crisis.
In the third quarter of the year formal, nonagricultural jobs grew by 16 000, according to the Quarterly Employment Statistics produced by surveying employers.
Altogether 15 000 of those were in the “community, social and personal services” category, which largely consists of the state. The private service sectors also created jobs on a more modest scale, but mining, manufacturing, utilities and construction all shed jobs.
Between the beginning of the year and the end of September, South Africa lost 1?000 formal jobs, according to the survey.
Even more worrying is where the jobs were lost.?Community and personal services actually gained 33?000 jobs.
Transport, wholesale and retail, construction, manufacturing and mining together shed an equivalent amount of jobs.?The ongoing deindustrialisation of South Africa remains apparent in the manufacturing job statistics with the sector’s job count inching to a new low of 1?143?000.
Even before the economic crisis, manufacturing jobs were disappearing with the high-water mark set in 2006 at about 1?334?000.
Much of the recovery in overall employment since the economic crisis has taken the form of service jobs in the state, compensating for continuing declines in manufacturing.
“Community and personal services” now provide 28.4% of jobs compared with 25.1% in 2008.
- City Press
The latest formal sector jobs numbers released by Stats SA this week again underline the country’s shrinking industrial base – and the overwhelming importance of government jobs for softening the unemployment crisis.
In the third quarter of the year formal, nonagricultural jobs grew by 16 000, according to the Quarterly Employment Statistics produced by surveying employers.
Altogether 15 000 of those were in the “community, social and personal services” category, which largely consists of the state. The private service sectors also created jobs on a more modest scale, but mining, manufacturing, utilities and construction all shed jobs.
Between the beginning of the year and the end of September, South Africa lost 1?000 formal jobs, according to the survey.
Even more worrying is where the jobs were lost.?Community and personal services actually gained 33?000 jobs.
Transport, wholesale and retail, construction, manufacturing and mining together shed an equivalent amount of jobs.?The ongoing deindustrialisation of South Africa remains apparent in the manufacturing job statistics with the sector’s job count inching to a new low of 1?143?000.
Even before the economic crisis, manufacturing jobs were disappearing with the high-water mark set in 2006 at about 1?334?000.
Much of the recovery in overall employment since the economic crisis has taken the form of service jobs in the state, compensating for continuing declines in manufacturing.
“Community and personal services” now provide 28.4% of jobs compared with 25.1% in 2008.
- City Press
