AEI June 2011 

Salient features

• Employment dropped at an annual rate of 2.5% during May, the first decline in 5 months.
• The decline is attributable to a sharp drop in employment in the construction (-20.1%) and manufacturing (-11.0%) sectors, as well as a small drop in government employment following the local government elections (-2.7%).
  · A sharp division occurred between high-skilled employment (which increased by 4.5%) and low-skilled employment (which declined by 3.7%). Employment of machine operators and elementary workers dropped sharply, by 14.9% and 12.9% respectively.
• Based on World Economic Forum (WEF) data, South Africa’s labour market competitiveness fell by 8.1% over the past year. South Africa’s labour laws and regulations are now the 7th most restrictive out of 139 countries in the world. According to a survey of the world’s 1,000 largest multinationals, restrictive labour regulations are the 4th most problematic factor for doing business in South Africa.

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