Labour market dynamics in South Africa, 2010

Table 1: Summary Labour Market measures 2005–2010

 

Lfs 2005

Lfs 2006

Lfs 2007

Qlfs 2008

Qlfs 2009

Qlfs 2010

2009-2010 change

% change

 

Thousand

%

Both sexes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Population 15-64 yrs

29 438

29 889

30 311

30 967

31 494

32 007

513

1,6

Labour Force

16 766

17 340

17 338

17 971

17 670

17 393

- 277

-1,6

Employed

12 769

13 419

13 467

13 867

13 455

13 061

- 394

-2,9

Formal sector (Non-agricultural)

8 336

8 675

9 147

9 572

9 453

9 123

- 330

-3,5

Informal sector (Non-agricultural)

2 441

2 573

2 325

2 298

2 129

2 159

30

1,4

Agriculture

740

8

737

786

686

639

- 47

-6,9

Private households

1 252

1 311

1 258

1 209

1 187

1 140

- 47

-4,0

Unemployed

 

3 997

3 922

3 871

4 104

4 215

4 332

117

2,8

Not economically active

12 672

12 548

12 973

12 996

13 824

14 614

790

5,7

Discouraged work-seekers

2 337

2 331

2 557

1 129

1 532

1 998

466

30,4

Other (not economically active)

 

10 335

10 217

10 416

11 867

12 292

12 616

324

2,6

Rates (%)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unemployment rate

23,8

22,6

22,3

22,8

23,9

24,9

1,0

 

Employed / population ratio (Absorption)

43,4

44,9

44,4

44,8

42,7

40,8

-1,8

 

Labour force participation rate

57,0

58,0

57,2

58,0

56,1

54,3

-1,9

 


In the year ended in December 2010, there were 395 000 fewer employed persons in the country compared to 2009. On average there were 13,1 million people employed  in 2010 compared to 13,5 million in 2009 - indicating that the country had not fully recovered from the economic recession experienced in 2009. However, the rate of decline was lower in 2010 compared to the one observed in 2009 (2,9% compared  to 3,0%).

The growth of the 1,4% in the informal sector was offset by the contraction of 3,5% in the formal sector, 6,9% in agriculture and the 4,0% in private households, resulting in the overall decline of 2,9% in total employment.

In addition to the decline in employment, on average, 544 000 persons were in time-related underemployment.  They worked less than 35 hours a week and they indicated that they wanted to work more hours.

Table 2: Employment by industry, 2005–2010

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Industry Thousand

Agriculture

740

859

737

786

686

639

Mining

343

339

367

330

317

305

Manufacturing

1 860

1 922

 1960

1 990

1 853

1 739

Utilities

93

97

86

97

98

90

Construction

937

1 016

1 051

1 161

1 133

1 060

Trade

3 180

3 450

3 342

3 179

2 975

2 927

Transport

705

684

717

785

764

774

Financeandotherbusinessservice

1 338

1 361

1 459

1 691

1 768

1 656

Communityandsocialservices

2 321

2 379

2 490

2  634

2 670

2 727

Privatehouseholds

1 252

1 311

1 258

1 209

1 187

1 140

Total

12 769

13 419

13 467

13 867

13 455

13 061

All industries lost jobs, between 2009 and 2010, except community and social services which grew by 2,1 percent or 57 000 jobs.

The biggest impact of job losses in 2010 was felt in North West and Mpumalanga where employment contracted by 5,1% and 4,2% respectively. However in absolute terms, Gauteng lost most jobs (150 000).

Conditions of employment

Employees who were in paid employment had median monthly earnings of R2 900. Approximately 35% of employees were not entitled to paid leave. Furthermore, almost 43% of women were working in jobs which had no provision for them to take maternity leave. Only 45,8% of the employees contributed or their employers contributed to a pension fund for them and 68,2% of employees reported that they were not entitled to medical benefits from their employers.

About 30% of employees were members of a trade union in 2010, and 32,7 % of  employees had salary increments negotiated through some sort of collective bargaining.

Unemployment

The decline  in employment  and the increase  in unemployment  to 4,3 million, led to the increase in the unemployment rate by 1,0 percentage point to 24,9% in 2010. This is almost 2,0 percentage points higher than in 2008 before the recession and is the highest since 2004 (Table 1).

The increase in the number of persons that were unemployed reflected an increase in those that were in long-term unemployment (up from 2,5 million in 2009 to 2,8 million in 2010). The bulk of the unemployed were below the age of 35 years in 2010. Furthermore, 60% of the unemployed had not completed secondary education, while those with tertiary education increased their share over the six year period (from 3,7% in 2005 to 5,8% in 2010).

Inactivity

Inactivity also increased in the year ending December 2010, after successive three years of increase. This can partly be attributed to the increase in the number of discouraged work- seekers which grew from 1,5 million in 2009 to about 2,0 million  in 2010.

For media enquiries contact:
Ms. Kefiloe Masiteng
Deputy Director General: Population and Social Statistics
Tel: 012 310 4663

For technical enquiries contact:
Mr Peter Buwembo
Acting Executive Manager: Labour Statistics
Tel: 012 310 8655

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