48 000 jobs lost so far this year

Trade industry shed most

SOUTH Africa continued to bleed jobs with the first quarter employment data released by Statistics SA (Stats SA) failing to ignite the ailing economy.

It said that the country slashed 48 000 jobs in the first quarter as gross earnings also declined by R19.3 billion during the period.

The agency said the trade industry shed the most jobs with 32 000 losses, followed by the business service with 23 000 less employees and community service also cutting 8 000 people out of employment.

It said the manufacturing industry also lost 4 000 jobs while transport shed 1 000.

Stats SA said the losses are attributed to the end of contracts for workers who were employed during the festive season.

It said the only notable difference was the construction industry which added 12 000 employees or an increase of 2 percent, while mining also took in 8 000 people – an 1.8 percent increase compared to the last quarter of 2016.

Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said labour market prospects remained particularly weak after the country entered into a technical recession and business confidence tanked to levels last seen in the great global-led recession of 2008.

“Depressed business confidence reflects expectations of suppressed future economic growth which therefore indicates that the private business sector will not add jobs or boost investment at the present time. Indeed, recent survey evidence drawn from the retail and manufacturing sector surveys for the third quarter of 2017 signals further expected declines in the number of individuals employed,” Kaplan said.

Early this month, Stats SA revealed that the unemployment rate in South Africa increased to 27.7 percent in the first quarter of this year from 26.5 percent in the previous period – the highest jobless rate since the first quarter of 2004 as unemployment rose faster than employment.

Macroeconomic statistics website Trading Economics said unemployment in South Africa averaged 25.41 percent from 2000 until this year, reaching an all-time high of 31.2 percent in the first quarter of 2003 and a record low of 21.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The loss of jobs in the first quarter of this year also hit the total gross earnings paid to employees after they went down by R19bn in the first three months of this year, a decrease of 3.2 percent compared to the previous quarter. However,

PHOTO: MATTHEWS BALOYI A long queue waits outside the Johannesburg Road Agency headquarters, where people came to apply for a post that had been advertised at the institution. South Africa’s youth unemployment rates are now considered to be chronic.