THE economy has lost 55293 employees in the formal non-agricultural business sector in the three months to June 1999, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday. The overall reduction was from a workforce of 4937830 employees in March. The decrease occurred mainly in three sectors — manufacturing; construction; and community, social and personal services including government. Statistics SA head Dr Mark Orkin said the figures covered the formal business sector, excluding the agricultural sector, some services, the self-employed who are not registered for VAT, domestic services and the informal sector.