Formal sector pay up R27 – Stats SA

SLIGHTLY more South Africans had jobs in the formal sector in September than in June‚ and their average monthly pay grew by R27‚ Statistics SA reported yesterday.

SA added 90 617 “non-farm” jobs in September from June‚ taking the total to 9.28 million‚ Stats SA’s employment survey for the thirdquarter found.

The survey covers government jobs and those in non-agricultural businesses with annual turnovers above R300 000.

Stats SA found the average pretax salary – including bonuses and overtime – was R18 104 in August‚ a R27 improvement on May’s R18 077.

Stats SA segments its employment data into eight industries.

The best-paying industry is “electricity‚ gas and water supply”‚ which in SA is dominated by Eskom. The average pre-tax salary including bonuses and overtime in August came to R37 200‚ an increase of 4.5% from May’s R35 609.

The worst-paying industry is trade‚ which Stats SA defines as wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles‚ motorcycles and personal and household goods; hotels and restaurants.

Average gross monthly pay including tips in this sector grew 1.9% to R12 305 in September from R12 076 in May‚ according to Stats SA’s survey.

What Stats SA terms “community service” – which covers mainly public servants – is the largest of the eight segments‚ accounting for 28% of SA’s formal employment.

Here average salaries declined by 4% to R21 118 in August from R21 996 in May.

Telkom’s staff cuts contributed to the transport‚ storage and communication industry reporting an annual shedding of 18 000 employees‚ or 3.9%‚ over the year to endSeptember.

The decrease over the thirdquarter was 3 000 jobs in the telecoms sector.

Construction activity appears to be looking up‚ with 6 000 building jobs added from the June to the September quarters. — TMG Digital/BDLive