Total employment increases, but SA has fewer full-time jobs

SA’S total employment increased on both a quarterly and annual basis, though there is concern that full-time jobs have declined while part-time jobs are on the increase.

Stats SA said on Tuesday that employment increased by 42,000 jobs, or 0.4%, from 10,062,000 in December 2021 to 10,104,000 in March 2022, bringing the total number of employed people to about 10.1million.

On an annual basis, employment increased by 200,000, or 2.0%, between March 2021 and March 2022.

The country’s quarterly employment statistics provide insight into employment dynamics in the formal non-agricultural sectors of the economy for the first quarter of 2022.

Stats SA said the increase in employment was largely due to increases in the community services, manufacturing and mining sectors.

But data shows that full-time employment continues to lag behind part-time employment, increasing by only 1,000 jobs between December 2021 and March 2022.

Full-time employment increased by only 8,000 jobs over the past 12 months, while part-time employment increased by 41,000, or 3.5%, quarter on quarter, from 1,182,000 in December 2021 to 1,223,000 in March 2022.

Part-time employment increased by 192,000 year on year between March 2021 and March 2022.

However, SA’S employment rate remains below pre-pandemic fourth-quarter 2019 level by almost 288,000, or 2.8%.

SA is still battling one of the most dismal overall unemployment rates in the world. At 34.5%, when measured for the first quarter of 2022, it was moderately down from the record 35.3% jobless rate recorded in the final three months of 2021.

FNB economists have warned that the slowing momentum in global growth due to the prevailing geopolitical tension poses a risk to the recovery of domestic output and employment. —