SA sees small rise in job numbers

Cape Town – South Africa’s mining sector shed 4 000 employees in December 2016, compared to the same period a year ago, Statistics SA said in its latest Quarterly Employment Survey on Friday.

Overall employment across non-agricultural businesses, such as factories, offices and stores, as well as national, provincial and local government entities increased by 90 000, or 0.9%, year-on-year (y/y) between December 2016 and December 2015.

On a quarterly basis, employment grew by 18 000 jobs – from 9 672 000 in September to 9 690 000 in December 2016.

Employment increases over the full year period occurred in trade (2.8%), business services (0.7%), construction (2.4%), manufacturing (0.5%) and community services (0.6%).

Besides the mining and quarrying industry, a decrease in employment was recorded in the transport sector (-3.2%).

READ: Over 200m people worldwide will be unemployed in 2017 - report

Statistician general Pali Lehohla pointed out that there are key differences between the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which conveys the unemployment rate, and the Quarterly Employment Survey, which shows employment figures across different sectors.

“For example, the Quarterly Employment Survey does not provide information on the demographic profile, education level and hours of work of those employed, neither does it provide information on unemployment and descriptors of the unemployed.”

Results of South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey were last announced in February this year, showing a slight decline in the official unemployment rate by 0.6 of a percentage point to 26.5%.

READ: Slight drop in SA's unemployment rate 

Earnings growth

The latest Quarterly Employment Survey shows that gross earnings paid to employees increased by R37.8bn (6.6%) in the period December 2015 to December 2016.

The uptick was mainly due to increases in the trade, business services, community services, manufacturing, transport, mining and quarrying and construction industries.