SA likely to continue seeing poor employment figures as economic growth remains muted

JOHANNESBURG - Stats SA said that the country was likely to continue seeing poor employment numbers as economic growth remains muted.

Seventy-four thousand jobs have been lost in the first quarter of this year compared to the final quarter of last year.

Industries such as trade, community services and mining took the hardest knock.

ALSO READ:

• Stats SA links first quarter job losses to muted economic growth

• SA economy bleeds 74k jobs in first quarter of 2025

At this time last year, 95,000 more jobs were reported in the South African economy.

Stats SA said that the majority of the jobs lost year-on-year were full-time employment and were directly linked to economic growth.

Acting deputy director-general for population and social statistics, Solly Molayi: "When the economy is growing and sectors are growing, chances are that there will be more of us employed in those particular sectors. I mean, look at trade. It only grew by 0.5 percent in quarter," said Molayi.

On the brighter side, however, Molayi said that some industries had recovered from the effects of COVID.

"We have now surpassed the pre-COVID-19 numbers, which means we have increased in terms of employment, but some industries that have not surpassed those levels, like transport and construction," said Maloyi.

This recovery may be short-lived, however, as Molayi said that job losses may persist as economic growth remains below 1%.