AEI March 2011 

Salient features 

• Employment in the formal sector remained in the doldrums in February, rising marginally at an annual rate of 1.4%. The figures indicate that, despite a broadening pattern of growth in economic activity, employment remains weak.
• Temporary work grew by 6.1% during the month, much of it in the agency work sector which grew by 3.2%, while permanent work declined by 1.3%.
• Temporary employment has increased in 17 of the past 24 months (or 71% of the time), whereas permanent employment has declined in 19 of the past 24 months (or 80% of the time). Interestingly, growth of temporary employment does not appear to be adversely affected by recent proposed labour law amendments and may have even increased as a result of the proposed laws as employers are reluctant to employ people on a permanent basis pending clarity on these proposed legislative amendments.
• The biggest increase in employment occurred in the government sector (5.5%), particularly in local and provincial government, and the biggest declines in employment occurred in the manufacturing and financial services sectors (-3.4% and -3.0% respectively).
• Demand for high-skilled professionals remains strong, with 135,540 new jobs created on a net basis during February. Demand for manufacturing-related jobs (such as machine operators and assemblers) remains weak, with 72,991 jobs destroyed during February.
• In this month’s analysis, we take a close look at a new technology that is revolutionizing the matching of skills and job vacancies in the temporary staffing industry. The case study shows the widespread use of technology, not only as an alternative to human resources, but also as a facilitator of productivity improvement and cost reduction in labour-intensive environments. Technological innovations of this kind are at least partly responsible for the rapid growth of temporary jobs in South Africa and around the world.

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