Durban — Trade union United Association of South Africa (Uasa) says more jobs are lost than created after Statistics SA (Stats SA) announced on Tuesday in its Quarterly Employment Statistics survey that total employment in the formal, non-agricultural sector increased by 48 000 in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing the level of employment to almost 10 million.
“The survey showed that 94 000 jobs were lost between December 2021 and December 2022,” Stats SA said.
It said that total employment increased by 48 000 quarter-on-quarter, from 9 920 000 in September 2022 to 9 968 000 in December 2022.
“This was mainly due to increases in the trade industry (49 000), business services (9 000) and mining sector (2 000). The transport and community services industries reported no quarterly change. However, about 10 000 jobs were shed in the construction industry, 1 000 in the manufacturing industry and about 1 000 in electricity.”
Stats SA said that increases in the trade industry (26 000), mining (2 000), transport (1 000) and business services (1 000) were offset by losses in the construction industry (-16 000), community services (-7 000); and electricity (-1 000), leading to an increase of 6 000 or 0.1% quarter-on-quarter for full-time employment, from 8 865 000 in September 2022 to 8 871 000 in December 2022.
“Full-time employment decreased by 9 000 or -0.1% year-on-year between December 2021 and December 2022,” Stats SA said.
It also said that part-time employment increased by 42 000 or 4.0% quarter-on-quarter, from 1 055 000 in September 2022 to 1 097 000 in December 2022. Increases were mainly due to the trade industry (23 000), business services (8 000), community services (7 000) and construction (6 000). There was no quarterly change in the electricity industry. However, the transport industry and the manufacturing industry showed losses of 1 000 each.
“Overall, part-time employment decreased by 85 000 or -7,2% year-on-year between December 2021 and December 2022,” Stats SA said.
Uasa spokesperson Abigail Moyo said that while the total employment increase of 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the last quarter of 2022 is pleasing, South Africa’s unemployment woes are still far from over.
Moyo said that in an actively industrialised country like ours, an unemployment rate of 32.7% is surreal and unsustainable.
“In reality, more jobs are needed, as more young people remain unemployed than before. Without jobs, South Africans will continue to sink into poverty as the cost of living becomes unsustainable,” Moyo said.
She said the question remains whether the government will ever respond and act proactively to the unemployment crisis.
“Uasa encourages South Africans to continue buying and using locally made products and services to help our economy recover and stabilise job losses. Building our economy to where it will benefit all South Africans starts with us,” Moyo said.
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