Johannesburg – South Africa’s non-agricultural formal sector shed 44 000 jobs in the first quarter of this year and saw gross and average earnings rise, Stats SA said in its Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) report on Tuesday.
The sector has lost 43 000 jobs overall in the year to end-March with the trade and community services sector hardest hit, while the manufacturing sector added jobs.
The QES differs from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in that its samples employment among VAT registered formal businesses, excluding agriculature. The LFS samples the actual labour force.
The QES shows that between December last year and March this year the number of formal sector jobs fell from 8 986 000 to 8 942 000.
Over the year to March, jobs fell from 8 985 000 to 8 942 000.
Over the quarter, the trade sector lost 23 000 jobs, while community services lost 19 000 and the construction sector, which has previously suffered heavy losses, shed 2 000 jobs.
The mining sector, which is recovering from last year’s strikes, shed 3 000 jobs over the quarter. The manufacturing sector, a key job creator for government’s industrialisation policy, gained 4 000 jobs.
ANA