South Africa’s formal, non-agricultural industries shed 119 000 jobs in the second quarter (Q2), down from 10 067 000 in March 2022 to 9 948 000 in June 2022, led largely by employment losses in the community services, business services and construction industries.
Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) Report shows that employment in the community services industry dropped by 100 000 jobs, followed by business services which saw a decrease of 15 000 and construction which reported an employment drop of 13 000. Manufacturing had 12 000 fewer jobs, while the electricity industry lost 1 000 jobs in Q2.
This is a slightly different picture to the one painted by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the period between April and June which reported an improvement in unemployment to 33.9% in Q2 of 2022, from 34.5% in Q1, a gain of 648 000 more jobs.
There were 16 000 fewer jobs in Q2 between the period of March 2022 and June 2022, decreasing total employment in this category to 8 826 000 in June 2022.
Full-time employment losses were led by the business services industry which shed 19 000 jobs, construction which shed 13 000, community services which shed 8 000 and the electricity industry which saw 1 000 fewer jobs this quarter.
However, the trade (19 000), mining (4 000) and manufacturing (1 000) industries reported gains in this category as did the transport industry which gained 1 000 jobs.
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