Johannesburg - Job growth slowed in February to an annual
rate of 1.5% - or 24 000 jobs created, according to the Adcorp Employment Index
released on Monday.
"During the month, the economy created 24 000 jobs,
slowing from the 80 000 jobs created in January," Adcorp said in a
statement.
Over 90% of the jobs - around 22 000 - were created in the
informal sector.
In the formal sector, more jobs were created in the
manufacturing sector (5.3%), the construction sector (4.7%) and wholesale and
retail trade (3.5%).
"This is the first time in more than 12 months that job
growth in the production-oriented sectors exceeded job growth in the
consumption-oriented sectors," Adcorp said.
"Nonetheless, mining employment continued to shrink,
with a loss of 3 000 jobs in February."
High-skilled employment - senior managers and professionals
- showed the strongest growth at a rate of 5.3%.
The steepest decline was recorded among low-skilled employment - trades and elementary workers - at minus 1.3%.