The survey, which is based on information collected by Statistics SA from formal, non-agricultural employers, is regarded as the most accurate on SA's employment figures. It reveals the trends of an economy unable to create jobs in almost every sector besides the public sector.
The survey showed that between December last year and March, employment rose from 8,498,000 to 8,507,000, due largely to an increase in the government sector - recorded as community services - in which jobs grew by 50,000.
Small job growth also took place in finance (7,000) and construction (5,000) but declined in every other sector of the economy.
Mining lost 13,000 jobs and the trade sector - which includes retail - lost 34,000 employees. In the past year, employment in mining has shrunk 5.6%, the biggest decline of any sector.
Total year-on-year employment increased 42,000, or 0.5%, an indication that SA remains far off achieving job growth targets which are necessary to deal with poverty and unemployment.
The National Development Plan sets a target of 11m additional jobs - formal and informal - by 2030. This would require half-a- million jobs a year, more than 10 times the number achieved in the formal sector over the past year.
In order to reach the target, the plan says that 5% growth will be necessary. However, the economy is forecast, by the Treasury, to grow at 2.7% this year.
The QES for the first quarter is once again out of step with the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), also produced by Statistics SA, but through a household survey.
The QLFS includes agricultural and informal employment.
Survey results for the first quarter of this year showed an increase in unemployment as seasonal vacancies ended and more people actively looked for jobs.
The QLFS said that the economy shed 122,000 jobs in the first quarter - the largest decrease compared with the first quarters of 2011, 2012 and last year.
While the two surveys measure slightly different things using different survey methods and cannot be expected to deliver the same results, their differences are sometimes puzzling.
So while the QLFS has found that jobs had been lost in the community and social sectors - which includes government employment - in the first quarter, the QES says that employment has grown in the community sector.
The QES, which also collects information on earnings, found that on an annual basis average monthly earnings rose 5.9% between February 2013 and February this year.
Average earnings, which mask both the large number of low-earners and small number of very high earners in the country, increased to R14,731 in February.
Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge
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