Ntsakisi Maswanganyi
THE South African economy created 125029 jobs in the last four months of last year‚ a monthly jobs index released yesterday showed.
The employment index by professional services firm Adcorp revealed that of the jobs created, 12556 were added in December.
The index is regarded as the most representative monthly barometer of employment trends in South Africa‚ although its figures do not usually tally with those from government statistics agency Statistics SA.
Unsurprisingly‚ jobs growth was recorded in all sectors except in mining and manufacturing. The two sectors were plagued by work stoppages in the third quarter as workers went on strike for higher wages.
Mining and manufacturing lost a combined 15000 jobs during December‚ while tertiary sectors gained 17000 jobs. The strongest jobs growth was in transport (12.7%)‚ wholesale and retail trade (3.4%) and construction (4.7%).
The index also suggested that more employers were opting for temporary rather than permanent workers‚ mainly to reduce costs because of a weak economy.
Permanent employment fell by 5542 during December, whereas temporary jobs increased by 9074‚ the index showed.
Analysing recent trends‚ Adcorp revealed that from 2000 to last year the number of permanent jobs declined by 1.9 million‚ while the number of temporary jobs increased by 2.6 million.
"Currently‚ temporary jobs account for 30.5% of all jobs in South Africa‚ up from 11% in 2000‚" Adcorp labour market analyst Loane Sharp said.
Sharp characterised the past decade's growing substitution of permanent positions by temporary jobs as a striking feature of South Africa's labour market.
"In other words‚ all of the growth in jobs over the past decade has been of a temporary nature‚" he said. – BDlive
