Johannesburg – The Adcorp November employment index‚ released on Thursday‚ shows that during September‚ October and November the economy added 112 473 jobs – 70 502 in November alone – reversing the decline of 82 431 jobs in the four months to August.
The index is regarded as the most representative monthly barometer of employment trends in SA‚ although its figures do not usually tally with those from SA’s official statistical agency‚ Statistics SA.
Adcorp‚ a JSE-listed human capital management group‚ found that jobs growth occurred in all sectors but temporary work continued to outperform the other categories‚ growing at a rate of 43‚344 jobs during November.
Strong growth of 7.4% was achieved in agency work - growth that Adcorp considers will probably continue as the economy ramps up for the year-end retail season.
November saw the unofficial sector – the part of the economy that is not captured by official statistics – grow robustly‚ creating 25 161 jobs during November.
The primary and secondary sectors – mining and manufacturing – continued to shed jobs‚ losing 31‚000 between them during the month.
The tertiary sectors – mostly services – gained 40 000 jobs during the month‚ with a quarter having been created in the government sector.
The strongest employment growth of 14.9% was in transport‚ followed by wholesale and retail trade (10.3%) and construction (7.0%).