South Africa lost about 34 000 jobs in the last quarter‚ with the majority of the job losses originating in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
This translates to a decrease of 0‚4% in employment in the quarter that ended in June 2017.
This is according to the latest figures in the Quarterly Employment Survey released on Thursday by Statistics SA and presented by Statistician-General Dr. Pali Lehohla in Pretoria.
The sample consists of about 20 000 private non-agricultural businesses that include factories‚ offices‚ stories‚ national‚ provincial and local government entities.
There are now 9‚6 million (9 617 000) jobs in the formal non-agricultural sector in the quarter which ended in June this year.
The largest job losses were suffered in the manufacturing sector with 13 000 jobs (-1‚1%)‚ construction with 11 000 jobs (-1‚8%) and community services with 10 000 jobs (-0‚4%).
There was an increase of about 3000 jobs in the trade and mining industry.
The total earnings of employees declined by R2 billion (-0‚4%) to R586 billion in the last quarter when compared to the previous quarter.
However earnings increased by R33 billion when compared to the same period in 2016.
The business services industry had the biggest decrease in gross earnings with R13‚6 billion (-8‚6%).
The community services industry had the biggest increase with R7 billion (0‚4%) followed by the transport and communications industry with R2 billion (6‚1%).
The average monthly earnings increased quarter-on-quarter by 2‚7% in the formal non-agricultural sector from R18 662 in February 2017 to R19 170 in May 2017.
The average monthly earnings increased year-on-year by 6‚9% from R17 938 to R19 170.
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