Increase in jobs – here are the sectors that hired this last quarter

There was an increase in formal, non-agricultural employment in third quarter of the year of 31 000, bringing the level of employment in South Africa to 10 176 000, while 256 000 jobs were added between September last year and September this year.

According to Statistics SA’s Quarterly Employment Statistics survey released today, the increase of 31 000 jobs in total employment includes full-time and part-time jobs, an increase of 0.3%.

Industries that shed jobs include manufacturing and business services that cut 7 000 jobs each and the construction industry that lost 5 000 jobs. The electricity industry remained unchanged, maintaining its existing employment levels.

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Full-time employment

The number of full-time employees declined by 3 000, resulting in the total full-time workforce decreasing from 8 792 000 employees in June to 8 789 000 in September.

The business services industry witnessed a loss of 17 000 full-time jobs, while the manufacturing industry lost 4 000 jobs and the construction industry 3 000 full-time jobs.

However, many industries experienced growth in full-time employment, with community services adding 16 000 jobs, while the trade and mining industries added 2 000 full-time jobs each. The electricity industry reported a modest gain of 1 000 full-time jobs, while, there was no change in full-time employment in the transport industry.

The number of full-time workers dropped by 76 000 in September 2023 compared to September 2022.

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Part-time employment

Part-time employment added 34 000 jobs during the third quarter, reaching a total of 1 387 000 in September compared to 1 353 000 in June 2023, mainly thanks to community services adding 26 000 jobs, business services adding 10 000, trade adding 2 000 and transport adding 2 000.

However, some industries shed jobs, with manufacturing cutting 3 000 part-time jobs, construction 2 000 and electricity 1 000.

Part-time employment for the third quarter of this year increased by 332 000 jobs compared to the third quarter of 2022.

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Total employee earnings also increased

In the quarter ending September 2023, the total gross earnings paid to employees increased 2.0%, totalling R850,3 billion compared to R833,6 billion in June 2023, primarily driven by the growth in earnings in business services of R9,1 billion, community services of R6,7 billion, mining of R2 billion, manufacturing of R595 million, electricity of R359 million and construction with R66 million.

However, the transport and trade industries had a decline in earnings, going down by R1,6 billion and trade by R711 million.

Basic salaries and wages increased by R15,2 billion (2%) in September 2023 to reach R774,3 billion, primarily driven by growth in the community services, business services, mining, manufacturing, transport, trade, construction and electricity sectors.

Compared to the third quarter of last year, the basic salaries and wages paid to employees increased by R51,6 billion (6.5%) from September 2022 to September 2023.

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Bonuses and overtime

Bonus payments increased by R1,8 billion (3.7%) in the third quarter to reach R51 billion, with notable growth in business and community services, while decreases were evident in transport, trade, manufacturing, construction and electricity.

Bonus payments increased by R4,4 billion (9.5%) from September 2022 to September 2023.

Overtime payments, on the other hand, dropped by R408 million (-1.6%) to reach R25 billion in the third quarter, with decreases in trade, manufacturing, community services, electricity and transport, while there was an uptick in overtime payments in business services and transport.

Compared to the third quarter of last year, overtime payments paid to employees increased by R2,2 billion (9.7%) from September 2022 to September 2023.

There was a 0.9% increase in the average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector, climbing from R25 866 in May 2023 to R26 086 in August 2023.

On an annual basis, the average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector experienced growth of 4.7%.