South Africa sees slight rise in employment but year-on-year figures reveal ongoing challenges

The latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) for September 2025 revealed a modest increase in total employment, rising by 29,000 jobs, or 0.3%, from June 2025, bringing the total number employed in South Africa to 10 549 000.

This uptick is encouraging, particularly in sectors like community services, trade, and mining; however, a year-on-year comparison shows a worrying decline of 79,000 jobs, or -0.7% when compared to September 2024.

Dissecting the numbers further, the community services sector led the increase, adding 39 000 jobs (1.4% growth), followed by trade, which saw a rise of 6 000 jobs (0.3%), and mining, adding 5 000 jobs (1.1%).

In contrast, the business services sector experienced the most significant decline, shedding 12,000 jobs (-0.5%), alongside manufacturing (-5 000, -0.4%) and construction (-4 000, -0.7%).

Electricity and transport sectors remained unchanged, indicating a stabilisation at a low level of employment.

Full-time employment saw a minor decline as well, decreasing by 21 000 jobs (-0.2%) from June to September 2025, emphasising the fragility of sustained employment growth.

Most notably, business services again displayed a substantial dip, losing 18 000 positions, with additional losses coming from manufacturing and community services.

On the brighter side, part-time employment saw a notable rise of 50 000 jobs (4.6%) quarter-on-quarter, reflecting a shift towards more flexible work arrangements.

Community services accounted for 42 000 of those new part-time roles (9.5%), while trade also showed resilience.

Yet, it is crucial to acknowledge the year-on-year decline in part-time jobs, which dropped by 7 000, or -0.6%.

In terms of financial compensation, gross earnings across all industries rose significantly by R10 7 billion (1.1%), soaring past the R1 trillion mark.

This increase can be attributed to gains in several sectors including business services and community services.

Annual figures indicate a healthier trend with gross earnings up R31.2 billion (3.2%) year-on-year.

Average monthly earnings followed suit, edging up by 0.3%—from R29,402 in May to R29 490 in August 2025.

A year-on-year analysis reveals an increase of 4.3% from August 2024.

However, it is worth noting that bonuses paid to employees surged by R6.2 billion (10.9%) in the same quarter, which could be an encouraging sign for employee satisfaction and morale despite other worrying trends.

Conversely, overtime payments saw a sharp decline, dropping by R3.3 billion (-11.1%) since June 2025 and decreasing by R1.9 billion (-6.9%) year-on-year.

This suggests that industries may be leaning more towards managing labour costs as business conditions remain uncertain.

As South Africa grapples with these mixed employment statistics, the challenge remains in achieving sustained growth and adapting to the changing landscape of work.

The initial optimism reflected in the latest quarter must be balanced with the awareness of what these figures imply for the long-term employment landscape.

Poverty statistics

Frank Blackmore, Lead Economist at KPMG South Africa said, "Statistics South Africa has published its latest poverty survey, which reveals that although there’s been a reduction in poverty across all age groups between 2006 and now, significant levels of poverty persist among all age groups. However, the proportion in the younger age groups is larger than in the old older age groups." 

"There are many reasons for this, firstly, South Africa has a relatively young population, which has been growing at about 1.5%. In contrast, the economy has only been growing at less than 1% over the past 10 or 15 years. Once this occurs, it will inevitably make the fight against poverty even more difficult. Therefore, the country must prioritise economic growth and opportunities, as these are the key drivers that will accelerate recovery from the current situation," Blackmore added. 

BUSINESS REPORT