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JOHANNESBURG. – THE formal sector shed 15 000 jobs in the first quarter, to 9 273 million employees, Statistics SA’s Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey showed yesterday. The drop is in line with the economic contraction over that period. Employment fell in all industries except for community services, construction, and electricity.The largest job losses were recorded in the trade sector, followed by transport, mining, manufacturing, and business services.

Mining lost jobs for the sixth consecutive quarter. Mining companies are under pressure from rising operating costs and still-low commodity prices.

“The quarterly decline in the number of people employed in the trade industry was largely driven by declines in employee numbers in retail trade, and hotels and restaurants, which recorded declines of 27 000 and 7 000 respectively,” Stats SA said.

The trade sector traditionally sheds jobs in the first quarter of the year, as jobs that were created temporarily to accommodate a busy festive season are cut.

The increase in community services, mainly made up of government jobs, could have been driven by jobs created for the local government elections in August and by the government filling vacancies that had remained unfilled for a long period, Stats SA officials said.

“There has been pressure from the Cabinet to reduce the vacancy rate (so) government departments may be feeling pressure to fill the vacancies,” statistician-general Pali Lehohla said.

Gross earnings in the formal sector fell by R22 billion to R523 billion in the first quarter of 2016, the QES showed.

An earlier jobs report, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which includes agricultural and household sector jobs, showed the economy shed 355 000 jobs in the first quarter of 2016. – BDLive