The growth rate in employment has slowed, Statistics SA said on Tuesday as it released quarterly employment statistics.
The quarter-on-quarter growth rate in employment in the formal non-agricultural business sector was 0,3% in the fourth quarter of 2008 — down from 0,8% in the fourth quarter of 2007, the Pretoria-based agency said.
According to T-Sec economist Mike Schussler, the data was ”close to what’s happening in our economy”.
It also showed that the recently released Quarterly Labour Force Survey had been ”a little optimistic”.
”Tuesday’s data shows that employment growth is slowing quickly … and remember that employment is always a lagging indicator.
”This means we’re likely to see job losses spread throughout our economy,” Schussler said.
Nedbank economist Carmen Altenkirch agreed that employment data contained a lagging element.
”It’s a very big decision a company makes when it decides to retrench workers as there is a cost … of rehiring and reskilling workers six to 12 months down the line.
”That’s why we’d have to see maybe two or three quarters of really negative growth before we see larger declines.”
The quarterly employment statistics also showed that gross earnings paid to employees during the October to December 2008 quarter amounted to R273,341-million.
This reflected a quarterly increase of R19,377-million (or 7,6%) compared with the July to September 2008 quarter, Statistics SA said.
The year-on-year growth rate in employment in the formal non-agricultural business sector was 1,2% in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from 1,8% in the third quarter of 2008.
”The December 2008 quarterly employment statistics survey shows that an estimated 8Â 513Â 000 people were employed in the formal non-agricultural business sector of the South African economy.
”This reflected an annual increase of about 103Â 000 employees (1,2%) compared with December 2007 (an estimated 8Â 410Â 000 employees).”
Statistics SA said gross earnings paid to employees during the October to December 2008 quarter amounted to R273,341-million.
This reflected an annual increase of R31,772-million (13,2%) compared with the October to December 2007 quarter.
Average monthly earnings, including bonuses and overtime payments, paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural business sector decreased from an estimated R9Â 520 in August to about R9Â 509 in November 2008. — Sapa