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Fin24 reports that the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey released by Statistics SA on Tuesday showed that the number of people employed in the formal, non-agricultural sector fell by 86,000 from the first to the second quarter to around 9.57 million.
But by the end of June this year, there were 60,000 more people employed than in June 2020, when SA started to emerge from a hard lockdown. Compared to the first quarter, employment in community services (-65,000), manufacturing (-15,000) and construction (-7,000) saw the biggest declines. But the mining sector employed 2,000 more people, and the transport industry increased employment by 1,000. Full-time employment decreased by 17,000 positions (to 8.6 million) between the first and second quarters, while part-time employment fell by 59,000 to 991,000. Commenting on the QES data, economist Chifi Mhango said the current employment trends suggested that not enough jobs are being created in high-impact sectors of the SA economy such as construction and manufacturing. While total employee earnings remained flat between the first and second quarter, earnings were almost 11% higher in June 2021 than in June 2020. Basic salary and wages increased by 9% in the year to June 2021, while bonus and overtime payments increased by 33%. Year-on-year, average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by almost 10%.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24
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