Hope for job seekers as employment opportunities increase in Q2

Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) offered a ray of hope to job seekers for the second quarter of the year.

The survey, which came out on Tuesday, indicated that 648 000 people got hired in the second quarter of 2022.

This follows an increase of 370 000 hires from the first quarter.

The stats are promising for job seekers because it means employment opportunities are on the rise.

The largest increase in new hires was recorded in community and social services (276 000), followed by trade (169 000), finance (128 000) and construction (104 000).

Decreases in employment were recorded in the manufacturing (73 000) and transport (54 000) sectors. 

Informal and formal sectors

Following an increase in hires of 171 000 in the informal sector in Q1, employment continues to increase by 146 000 in Q2 in this sector.

Job opportunities in the formal sector increased by 420 000 in Q2: 2022 compared to Q1: 2022.

Six out of eight industries in Q2 this year recorded formal sector employment gains. An increase of 420 000 in the formal sector employment was mainly driven by the community and social services industry – 235 000, Trade at 119 000, Construction at 97 000 and finance at 58 000.

 Manufacturing and transport were the only industries that experienced losses in formal sector employment this quarter, compared to the last.

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Employment stats in provinces

The largest employment increases were recorded in Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape.

Employment losses were recorded only in the Northern Cape (down by 3 000) during the same period. Limpopo recorded the most significant quarter-to-quarter increase in employment of 9,9%.

The majority of employees have permanent employment contracts.

Between the first and second quarters of this year, the number of employees increased among those with permanent contracts, fixed-term contracts and flexi or open-ended contracts (unspecified duration).

The year-on-year comparisons indicated that the number of employees increased for all contract types. The most considerable increase was among those with contracts of limited duration (up by 264 000), followed by contracts of unspecified duration (up by 176 000).

The study is a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa that collects data on the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 years and older who live in South Africa.

However, this report only covers labour market activities of persons aged 15–64.

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