More than 100,000 jobs created in December, says Adcorp Employment Index

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Over 100,000 new jobs were created in December 2011, with temporary work growing the fastest, according to the Adcorp Employment Index released on Tuesday.

"A total of 103,327 new jobs were created in December 2011 -- the fastest rate of growth in nine months," Adcorp said in a statement.

All employment categories reported growth in December, with the fastest being temporary work (15 percent) and permanent jobs (six percent), said Adcorp labour market analyst Loane Sharp.

He said labour agency work lagged behind with a growth rate of five percent, "possibly reflecting regulative and regulatory uncertainties regarding labour broking".

However, the number of jobs in South Africa was still 850,000 below the peak reached before the 2009 recession.

The country had lost 1.56 million permanent jobs and created 0.71 million temporary jobs since then, Sharp said.

In December, the distribution and logistics sector grew significantly at 16 percent, as did the financial services (nine percent) and retail (eight percent) sectors.

The index found that no sectors had reported a decline in employment.

Job growth was fastest in the low-skilled and semi-skilled job categories.

Services workers grew at a rate of 11 percent, clerks at ten percent and elementary occupations at eight percent.

"This is the first time since the 2009 recession that employment growth has been observed in the entry-level occupations," said Sharp. (Sapa)