Farming one of sectors showing loss of jobs

AGRICULTURE has recorded job losses of 3 000 in the first quarter of the year‚ according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics SA yesterday.

Overall‚ the situation was largely unchanged.

Stats SA said the South African working-age population increased by 153 000, or 0.4%, in the first quarter of this year compared with the last quarter of last year.

The rise in both employment – up by 206 000 – and unemployment – up by 100 000 – over the quarter led to a rise in the labour force participation rate (from 58.8% to 59.3%).

The unemployment rate (26.7%) remained unchanged over the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

Employment gains were recorded in the formal sector (111 000)‚ informal sector (93 000) and private households (5 000). The quarterly employment increase of 206 000 in the first quarter of the year was driven by six of 10 industries.

The contributors to the increase were the community and social services sector (95 000)‚ manufacturing (58 000)‚ construction (40 000), trade (36 000) and finance and other business services (30 000).

Employment declines were recorded in transport (41 000)‚ mining (14 000)‚ utilities (6 000) and agriculture (3 000).

While the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 26.7% in the first four months of the year compared with the last quarter of last year‚ it increased in seven of the nine provinces and decreased in two of the provinces‚ Stats SA said.

The largest increase in the unemployment rate was recorded in Mpumalanga (up by 3.5 percentage points)‚ Northern Cape (up by 2.4 percentage points)‚ and North West (up by 1.9 percentage points).

KwaZulu-Natal (down by 1.8 percentage points) and Gauteng (down by 0.5 of a percentage point) recorded a decline in the official unemployment rate.

The expanded unemployment rate increased by 0.4 of a percentage point in the first quarter to 36.7% quarter-to-quarter.

Of the 10.3 million people aged 15 to 24 years, 32.4% (about 3.3 million) were not in employment‚ education or training in the first quarter of the year.

“This implied that close to one in three young South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 years were disengaged from the labour market‚” Stats SA said.

This was unchanged‚ compared to the first quarter of last year.