Johannesburg - The findings of the latest Adcorp Employment Index show that employment in South Africa will make a slow - but sustained - recovery.
Releasing the index on Wednesday, employment services company Adcorp said between February and March 2010 employment increased by 0.2% on a month-on-month basis, representing an annualised growth rate of 2.3%.
While manufacturing employment increased by a substantial 3.3% in March - albeit off a low base - the demand for plant and machine operators and assemblers increased by 6.1%, Adcorp said.
There was an 8% decrease in the volatile construction sector, where 2010 Fifa World Cup projects were coming to an end.
The index also indicated that permanent employment remained in decline, while contracting continued to grow.
"Since the low point in September 2009, the index has increased by just 1.3%, suggesting that the labour intensity of the present economic recovery is generally low," said Adcorp CEO Richard Pike.
"Nearly half the jobs created between 2001 and 2009 have been lost during the past 15 months," he said.
According to the Index, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape reported the biggest growth in employment by province (+5.1% and +3.8% respectively), while in the Western Cape, employment fell by 0.3%.
- Sapa