Nearly half of South Africans were employed in the community and social services sectors, and trade. These two sectors accounted for 44.5 percent of total employment.

"This is the fourth consecutive quarter of significant year-on-year growth," said Stats SA spokeswoman Kefiloe Masiteng.

Compared to the first quarter of 2012, there were 25,000 more jobs. This increase was driven mainly by the formal sector, which added 62,000 jobs during the quarter.

Community and social sectors created 121,000 jobs during the quarter, and construction added 26,000 jobs.

However, trade and manufacturing lost 91,000 jobs and 44,000 jobs respectively.

The informal sector and agriculture lost 21,000 and 18,000 jobs respectively.

The formal sector accounted for 71.2 percent of total employment for the second quarter.

Since the third quarter of 2010, when employment rates were at their lowest levels, 472,000 jobs had been added.

The unemployment rate declined from 25.2 percent to 24.9 percent.

Nearly 60 percent of those unemployed did not have matric, while 43 percent were new entrants into the labour market.

The Western Cape and Gauteng lost 45,000 jobs, while Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape gained jobs since the previous quarter.

Mpumalanga gained jobs in trade (21,000) and construction (12,000). Limpopo gained jobs in trade (13,000) and agriculture (11,000). The Eastern Cape gained 27,000 jobs in community and social services, and 13,000 in agriculture.