Stats SA has published the latest Quarterly Employment Survey results for the third quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, ending September 2023.

According to the statistics body, there was a small 0.9% increase in quarter-on-quarter average monthly earnings for employees in the formal non-agricultural sector, with earnings growing from R25,866 (revised) in May 2023 to R26,086 in August 2023.

On a year-to-year basis, the average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector saw growth of 4.7% – increasing from R24,916 in 2022.

According to Stats SA, gross earnings paid to employees increased by R16.7 billion or 2.0% from R833.6 billion in June 2023 to R850.2 billion in September 2023.

This was largely due to increases in the following industries: business services, community services, mining, manufacturing, electricity and construction. However, there were decreases in the following industries: transport and trade.

The year-on-year gross earnings increased by R51.6 billion or 6.5% between September 2022 and September 2023.

Basic salary/wages paid to employees increased by R15.2 billion or 2.0% from R759 billion in June 2023 to R774.3 billion in September 2023.

This was largely due to increases in the following industries: community services, business services, mining, manufacturing, transport, trade, construction and electricity.

The year-on-year basic salary/wages increased by R44.9 billion or 6.2% between September 2022 and September 2023.

Bonus paid to employees increased by R1.8 billion or 3.7% from R49.2 billion in June 2023 to R51 billion in September 2023.

This was largely due to increases in the following industries: business services and community services.

However, there were decreases in the following industries: transport, trade, manufacturing, construction and electricity.

The year-on-year bonus payments increased by R4.4 billion or 9.5% between September 2022 and September 2023.

Overtime paid to employees decreased by R408 million or -1.6% from R25.4 billion in June 2023 to R25 billion in September 2023.

This was largely due to decreases in the following industries: trade, manufacturing, community services, electricity and transport. However, business services and construction reported a quarterly increase.

The year-on-year overtime payments increased by R2.2 billion or 9.7% between September 2022 and September 2023.

Employment gains

Looking at the employment figures from the survey, total job increased by 31,000 or 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, from 10,145,000 in June 2023 to 10,176,000 in September 2023.

Stats SA noted that this was largely due to increases in the following industries: community services (42,000 or 1.4%), trade (4,000 or 0.2%), transport (2,000 or 0.5%) and mining (2,000 or 0.4%).

The electricity sector reported no change.

However, there were decreases in the following industries: business services (-7,000 or -0.3%), manufacturing (-7,000 or -0.6%), and construction (-5,000 or -1.0%).

The report shows that total employment increased by 256,000 or 2.6% year-on-year between September 2022 and September 2023.

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