SA's employed likely to retain jobs says Stats SA

SA's unemployment levels have risen from 4.2m to 4.9m in the past five years. Image: The Doctor's Report

"The employed are most likely to stay employed. As many as 92.9% of those with jobs remained in employment," said Stats SA in its Labour Market Dynamics Report 2013.

The report draws on the comparison of results from the Quarterly Labour Force surveys of the third and fourth quarters of last year.

According to the report, only 13.1% of the unemployed found work and there are currently about 4.7m people who remain unemployed.

The report found that those with work are more likely to find new employment, than those that have not worked before or are currently unemployed.

Stats SA says that clerks, domestic workers and sales and service workers were most likely to retain their jobs, while skilled agricultural workers were least likely to do so.

Retention high in three provinces

The Western Cape, Free State and Gauteng had the highest formal sector retention rates, while the highest informal sector retention rates were in North West and Limpopo.

For all the provinces formal sector retention rates were higher than in the informal sector.

According to the report, from 2008 to 2013 employment increased from 14.6m to 14.9 m, while unemployment levels increased from 4.2m to 4.9m.

"This resulted in an increase in the unemployment rate from 22.5% in 2008 to 24.7% in 2013," said the report.

The report found that unemployment was highest among the black population.

The report said that during the period between 2008 to 2013 access to several benefits improved for South African employees with pension contributions from employers rising from 45.5% to 48%, while those with medical aid increased from 28.7% to 31.6%.

"But access to benefits has remained consistently higher for men than for women," it said.

The report found that awareness about Expanded Public Works Programmes and other government job creation programmes increased from 42.8% in 2011 to 49.7% in 2013. Participation in government job creation programmes was highest among the less educated.

Employment by industry between 2008 and 2013 showed gains in finances, which gained 213 000 workers, mining 5 700 and community and social services 575 000. Large employment losses were seen in manufacturing, trade and agriculture.