Formal sector sheds 16,000 jobs in third quarter – Stats SA

According to Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA’s) Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for the third quarter of 2018, there was a decrease of 16,000 jobs in industries such as construction, mining, transport and community services.

“The manufacturing and construction industries accounted for about three-quarters of the decline in employment over the quarter. Whilst both these industries have recorded quarterly job losses, when looking at the annual job levels, they continue to trend downwards since December 2017,” explained Stats SA.

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The breakdown of job losses that occurred is as follows; manufacturing (-7,000), construction (-5,000), mining (-2,000), trade (-2,000), transport (-1,000), and community services (-1,000).

It is not all doom and gloom however as the body reports that total employment was up by 17,000 over the year, bringing the total in the formal non-agricultural sector to 9,733 000.

The electricity industry is reportedly the only sector that remained unchanged in the third quarter.

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