Total employment in the formal non-agricultural sector shrank by 119 000 jobs in the second quarter of 2022, to around 9.9 million, according to the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics survey released by Statistics South Africa.
However, there were 74 000 more jobs in the economy in June 2022, compared to a year before.
While the number of jobs increased in some industries: trade (+17 000), mining (+4 000) and transport (+1 000) in the second quarter compared to the first; community services (-100 000), business services (-15 000), construction (-13 000), manufacturing (-12 000) and electricity (-1 000) saw losses.
Full-time jobs fell from 8.842 million in March 2022 to 8.826 million in June 2022, and there was a sharp decline of 80 000 full-time positions between June 2021 and June 2022.
By contrast, part-time employment increased by 154 000 jobs over the past year. But part-time employment fell by 103 000 jobs from March to June this year.
Year-on-year, average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 4%.
But there was a sharp increase in average monthly earnings between the first and second quarter: 3.7%, from R23 697 in February 2022 to R24 578 in May 2022.
Bonus payments increased by 14.3% between June 2021 and June 2022, while overtime payments increased by 7.1%.