Employment levels in the second and third quarter of 2008 remained stable at 13,7-million, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday.
”The stability is due to loss of jobs in the informal sector [165 000] and a slight gain in employment in the formal sector [24 000] and private households [89 000],” Stats SA said.
The information is contained in its Quarterly Labour Force survey for the third quarter.
All industries showed a downward trend with the exception of trade — up by 71 000 jobs — and private households — up by 89 000 jobs.
In both quarters, trade remained the industry that contributed the most to employment with 23,3% of total employment, Stats SA said.
While the unemployment rate remained virtually unchanged from 23,1% in the second quarter of 2008 to 23,2% in the third quarter of 2008, there were, however, noticeable increases in the unemployment rates of North West (up by 3,8 percentage points to 26,7% and the Eastern Cape (up by 2,6 percentage points to 27,4%).
Stats SA said that in both quarters, Limpopo remained the province with the highest unemployment rate. — Sapa