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