Day: December 15, 2022

Eskom has eased load shedding to Stage 4 until Sunday morning when it will then reduce further to Stage 3.

The power utility warned however that electricity generating capacity remains constrained.

“Since Tuesday morning, a unit each at Camden, Kriel, Majuba, Matla and Duvha power stations were taken offline for repairs and maintenance. In addition, the delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha and Hendrina power stations has contributed to capacity contraints.

“A generating unit each at Grootvlei, Camden, Kriel and Majuba power stations returned to service,” the electricity supplier said.

Eskom currently has some 6618MW of capacity offline due to maintenance with a further 15 996MW unavailable due to breakdowns.

“Eskom requests the public to reduce to the usage of electricity and to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generating capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” the power utility said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Employment in South Africa increased by 10 000 quarter-on-quarter, between June and September 2022, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) revealed in the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) released on Thursday.

The 0.1% increase saw employment increase from 9 974 000 in June 2022 to 9 984 000 in September 2022.

The agency said the increase was largely due to increases in several industries.

These included business services (31 000 or 1.3%), trade (10 000 or 0.5%), construction (8 000 or 1.5%), mining (5 000 or 1.0%), transport (4 000 or 1.0%) and manufacturing (1 000 or 0.1%). The electricity industry reported no quarterly change.

However, said StatsSA, the community services industry reported a quarterly decrease of 49 000 employees or -1.7%.

Over this period, employment increased by 31 000 or 0.3% year-on-year between September 2021 and September 2022.

Over the four months, full-time employment increased by 36 000, from 8 837 000 in June 2022 to 8 873 000 in September 2022.

“This was largely due to increases in the following industries: business services (15 000 or 0.7%), trade (12 000 or 0.6%), mining (5 000 or 1.0%), transport (2 000 or 0.5%), community services (2 000 or 0.1%), and construction (1 000 or 0.2%). The electricity industry reported no quarterly change.

“However, the manufacturing industry reported a quarterly decrease of 1 000 employees or -0.1%,” said StatsSA.

Between September 2021 and September 2022, full-time employment decreased by 16 000 (-0.2%) year-on-year.

The agency said part-time employment decreased by 26 000 or (2.3%) quarter-on-quarter, from 1 137 000 in June 2022 to 1 111 000 in September 2022.

It said this was largely due to decreases in the following industries: community services (-51 000 or -9.5%) and trade (-2 000 or -0.9%). The electricity industry reported no quarterly change. However, there were increases in the following industries: business services (16 000 or 7.2%), construction (7 000 or 10.9%), transport (2 000 or 12.5%) and manufacturing (2 000 or 2.6%).

Part-time employment increased by 47 000 (4.4%) year-on-year between September 2021 and September 2022.

“Gross earnings paid to employees increased by R11.1 billion (1.4%) from R789.4 billion in June 2022 to R800.5 billion in September 2022.

“This was largely due to increases in the following industries: business services, mining, trade, manufacturing and electricity. However, there were decreases in the following industries: transport, construction and community services,” it said.

The year-on-year gross earnings increased by R17.5 billion (2.2%) between September 2021 and September 2022.

Over the reporting period, StatsSA said basic salary/wages paid to employees increased by R12.0 billion (1.7%) from R719.2 billion in June 2022 to R731,2 billion in September 2022. This was largely due to increases in the following industries: mining, trade, business services, community service, manufacturing, transport and electricity. However, the construction industry reported a quarterly decrease.

The year-on-year basic salary/wages increased by R17.8 billion or 2.5% between September 2021 and September 2022, the agency said.

Source: South African Government News Agency