ANA reports that employment in SA’s formal non-agricultural sector fell by 0.2%, or 16,000 jobs, to 9.733 million in the third quarter compared with the previous three months.  

The figure however reflects a 0.2% or 17,000 increase over the same quarter in 2017, Statistics South Africa indicated on Tuesday.  It said the quarter-on-quarter employment decline was mainly driven by the manufacturing industry, which lost 7,000 jobs (-0.6 percent), while construction shed 5,000 jobs (-0.8 percent) and mining was down 2,000 jobs, as was the trade industry.  Other losses were in the transport and community services sectors.  Job gains were recorded in business services industry, where employment was up by 2,000 while the electricity sector was unchanged from the second quarter.  Total earnings paid to employees increased by R26 billion, or 4.2 percent, to R653 billion in the three months to September compared to the previous quarter.

• Read the original of this report at Business Report

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