The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released its September 2024 Quarterly Bulletin on Thursday and noted that total household-surveyed employment decreased by 92,000 in the second quarter of 2024 but remained above its pre-Covid-19 level.
The Bank said that job shedding occurred in the formal, agricultural and private household sectors in the second quarter, while the informal sector employed more people.
“The year-on-year pace of increase in total household surveyed employment slowed further from 3.4% in the first quarter of 2024 to 1.9% in the second quarter,” the Reserve Bank said.
Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said earlier this year that the official unemployment rate increased for a third consecutive quarter, from 32.9% in the first quarter of 2024 to 33.5% in the second quarter, due to a further increase in the number of unemployed persons.
“The not economically active population in South Africa increased by 72,000 persons over this period as the increase in the number of discouraged work seekers outweighed the decrease in the other not economically active category,” the Reserve Bank explained.
“As a result, the expanded unemployment rate also increased further, from 41.9% in the first quarter of 2024 to 42.6% in the second quarter.”
It said that growth in labour productivity in the formal non-agricultural sector accelerated minimally from 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1.7% in the first quarter of 2024 as the year-on-year growth in non-agricultural output moderated at a slower pace than that in employment.
“Likewise, growth in nominal unit labour cost accelerated from 2.6% to 3.4% over the same period as year-on-year growth in output slowed at a faster pace than that in total remuneration.”
Lastly, the Reserve Bank said that growth in economy-wide nominal unit labour cost has accelerated from 3.1% in the first quarter of 2024 to 4.3% in the second quarter as year-on-year growth in the compensation of employees accelerated, while that in output slowed marginally.
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