* Manufacturing adds, jobs, but losses in mining
* Employment up 1.6 percent q/q in fourth quarter
JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) – The number of people
employed in South Africa’s formal sector inched up only 0.3
percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 with the manufacturing
sector among the few that added jobs, Statistics South Africa
said on Tuesday.
Chronic unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges
facing Africa’s biggest economy, with nearly 24 percent of the
labour force reported as jobless in the fourth quarter of last
year.
Employment rose by 23,000 people during the last three
months of 2011 to 8.381 million and was up 1.6 percent on a
year-on-year basis, Statistics South Africa said.
Sectors that saw increased employment during the quarter
included manufacturing, which accounts for about 15 percent of
gross domestic product, as well as electricity, gas and water
supply, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants.
But jobs were lost in the mining and quarrying industries as
well as construction, among others.
Gross earnings paid to employees during the quarter
amounted to 364.42 billion rand ($48.4 billion), up 7.1 percent
over the third quarter.
In its latest quarterly labour force survey last month,
Statistics South Africa said the total number of jobless people
stood at 4.244 million in the three months to December from
4.442 million in the third quarter.
Only a fraction of the million jobs lost during a recession
in 2009 have been recouped, and economic growth – seen at 2.7
percent this year – remains below the 7 percent expansion the
government says is needed to make a meaningful dent in
unemployment.
($1 = 7.5343 South African rand)
(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa, editing by Ed Stoddard/Ruth
Pitchford)
