BDLive writes that Statistics SA’s quarterly employment statistics survey (QES) released on Monday showed a surprise drop in permanent employees in provincial and local government in the first quarter of 2016.  

All in all the formal economy shed 15,000 jobs, but while the drop in private sector jobs was expected, the fall in government jobs bucked a long established trend that has seen a steadily rising number of public sector employees.  The drop in provincial and local government employment may suggest that departments are heeding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s call to cut the size of the public sector in order to slash the wage bill.  Provincial governments lost 11,000 jobs, while local government jobs were down by 3,000.  National government jobs were up by 5,000.  The number of temporary jobs in government grew, as the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) employed 50,000 more people in preparation for the local government elections in August.

• Read this report on the QES by Ntsakisi Maswanganyi in full at BDLive

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