BDLive reports that the formal sector shed 15,000 jobs in the first quarter, to 9.273-million employees, Statistics SA’s Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey showed on Monday.  

Employment fell in all industries except for community services, construction, and electricity.  The largest job losses were recorded in the trade sector, followed by transport, mining, manufacturing, and business services.  Mining lost jobs for the sixth consecutive quarter.  The increase in community services, mainly made up of government jobs, could have been driven by jobs created for the local government elections in August and by the government filling vacancies that had remained unfilled for a long period, Stats SA indicated.  Gross earnings in the formal sector fell by R22bn to R523bn in the first quarter of 2016, the QES showed.

• Read this report by Ntsakisi Maswanganyi in full at BDLive

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