A decline of 34 000 jobs was recorded in the second quarter of 2017 in South Africa’s formal non-agricultural sector, the Quarterly Employment Survey, released by StatsSA on Thursday, revealed.

“That decrease is in manufacturing, construction, community services, transport … only mining and quarrying showed some increases in terms of employment. That is what we are seeing there,” outgoing Statistician General Pali Lehohla addressed media in Pretoria.

Compared to same quarter in 2016, employment has increased year-on-year by 13 000 [0.1 percent].

“Whenever you look at these things, you have to look at the quarter, and the year-on-year to understand how significant the changes are,” said Lehohla.

The Quarterly Employment Statistics is an enterprise-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. The samples are drawn from private non-agricultural businesses such as factories, firms, office, and stores, as well as from national and local entities.

StatsSA said a quarterly decrease of 40 000 in the employment figures occurred mainly in finance, community services, manufacturing and transport.