South Africa’s formal, nonagricultural employment rose by 0.1% in the third quarter of the year, with 10 000 jobs added, taking employment in the sector to 8.44-million during the period under review, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Tuesday.

Compared with the second quarter, a net 20 000 jobs were added in the civil service, while 15 000 were lost in the mining sector.

Investec’s Annabel Bishop commented that the growth in the country’s employment base was significantly lower than in prior years, as the mining sector’s wildcat strikes hit the economy hard, with the manufacturing, construction, transport and the electricity, gas and water sectors adding no additional jobs during the quarter.

The mining and quarrying sector shed 15 000 jobs during the three months to September, contracting 2.8% to 519 000, after achieving a three-year high of 534 000 jobs in the second quarter. Year-on-year, the sector recorded a 0% growth in job creation, sustaining the same number of jobs.

The manufacturing and construction industries, neither of which added jobs during the quarter, shed 4 000 and 1 000 jobs respectively year-on-year. The manufacturing sector ended the third quarter with 1.14-million jobs, while the construction sector had 433 000.

The electricity, gas and water supply industry reported a 5.1% year-on-year increase, reaching an employee base of 62 000 by September 2012, from 59 000 in the prior year, but had recorded zero employment growth during the quarter under review.

However, Stats SA revealed a 0.8% quarter-on-quarter and 2.2% year-on-year rise in jobs within the community, social and personal services industry, owing to increases in employment in provincial administration; local government; government departments; universities and technikons; and education.

This sector added 20 000 employees during the quarter ended September, achieving a 2.38-million employee base. Compared with the corresponding period last year, 51 000 jobs had been created.

Employment in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motor cycles and personal and household goods; and the hotels and restaurants industry reported a quarterly rise of 0.1%, adding 2 000 jobs during the three months to September 2012.

The sector, which currently had 1.69-million employees, also achieved a 1.3% year-on-year growth, adding 21 000 employees, mostly owing to the retail trade sector.

Bishop pointed to seasonal hiring in the run-up to the holiday season, but noted that the number of additional staff taken on was significantly lower than the third-quarter reports in previous years.

While the transport, storage and communication industry also recorded no quarterly change in the number of jobs during the period, the sector added 9 000 employees year-on-year, a 2.5% jump, reaching a total employee base of 374 000.

The financial intermediation, insurance, real estate and business services industry reported a 0.2% year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter increase of 3 000 employees in the third quarter of this year, compared with the quarter ended September 2011.