Pretoria - Employment in the formal non-agricultural business sector
increased between the quarters ended September 2009 and December
2009, Statistics SA said on Tuesday.
The Pretoria-based agency was releasing its Quarterly Employment
Statistics Survey for December 2009.
The survey showed that the number of people employed in the
formal non-agricultural business sector of the South African
economy increased by about 18 000 (or +0.2%) from September
2009 (an estimated 8 143 000 employees) to December 2009 (an
estimated 8 161 000 employees).
Statistics SA said gross earnings paid to employees in the
formal non-agricultural business sector increased between the
quarters ended September 2009 and December 2009.
The gross earnings paid amounted to R294.509m. This
reflected a quarterly increase of R31.485m (or +12%) compared with the quarter ended September 2009, the agency
said.
However, employment in the formal non-agricultural business
sector decreased between the quarters ended December 2008 and
December 2009.
According to the survey, an estimated 8 161 000 people were
employed in the formal non-agricultural business sector of the
South African economy.
This reflected an annual decrease of about 351 000 employees (or
-4.1%) compared with December 2008 (an estimated 8 512 000
employees).
Pay hikes
According to Statistics SA, gross earnings paid to employees in
the formal non-agricultural business sector increased between the
quarters ended December 2008 and December 2009.
Gross earnings paid to employees during the quarter ended
December 2009 (October 2009 to December 2009) amounted to R294 509
million.
This reflected an annual increase of R20 552m (or +7.5%) compared with the quarter ended December 2008 (October
2008 to December 2008).
The agency said average monthly earnings, including bonuses and
overtime payments, paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural
business sector increased between August 2009 and November 2009.
The December 2009 Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey
reflected a quarterly increase of 4% in average monthly
earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural business
sector between August 2009 (an estimated R10 278) and November 2009
(an estimated R10 694), it added.
Statistics SA said average monthly earnings, including bonuses
and overtime payments, paid to employees in the formal
non-agricultural business sector increased between November 2008
and November 2009.
The December 2009 QES survey reflected an annual increase of
12.2% in average monthly earnings paid to employees in the
formal non-agricultural business sector between November 2008 (an
estimated R9 527) and November 2009 (an estimated R10 694),
Statistics SA said.
- Sapa