BDLive reports that SA Reserve Bank data showed on Tuesday that labour productivity in SA’s formal sector, which is the biggest employer with 9.3-million people, is falling while unit labour costs are rising.  

Labour productivity contracted by 1.2% in the year to the first quarter of 2016, as year-on-year output growth contracted while employment growth accelerated only marginally, the Bank said in its quarterly bulletin on Tuesday.  The pace of increase in private-sector nominal remuneration per worker accelerated while the pace of increase in average public-sector salaries and wages per worker decelerated.  Growth in average real salaries and wages slowed significantly in the first quarter of 2016 amid a marked acceleration in inflation over the period, the Bank reported.

• Read this report by Ntsakisi Maswanganyi in full at BDLive

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