The recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) was recently released and highlighted some interesting points.
The QLFS is a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). It collects data on the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 years and above who live in South Africa. However, this report only covered labour market activities of persons aged 15 to 64 years.
Some of the interesting points highlighted by the Survey are:
The labour force decreased by 32 000 persons between Q1:2012 and Q2:2012. This decrease was reflected in a decrease in the number of unemployed persons, which saw the unemployment rate decline by 0,3 of a percentage point from 25,2% to 24,9% in the Q2:2012. The number of employed persons increased by 25 000 persons. The economy has created 472 000 jobs since the lowest point in employment in Q3:2010.
Compared to a year ago, in Q2:2012, employment increased by 2,5% (322 000), unemployment decreased by 1,5% (68 000), the number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 4,7% (104 000) and other (not economically active) increased by 0,9% (109 000), resulting in a net increase of 215 000 among the not economically.
The sad reality is that more and more people are falling in the discouraged category, meaning that they have given up on even searching for employment. A further sad reality is that the private sector employment is hamstrung by legislation and could further be hamstrung by proposed legislation.
Something must be done to ensure that we create an environment conducive to job creation.