December was a positive employment month for South Africa, with the number of jobs having grown by 12 556, equivalent to an annualised rate of 0,8%.

Adcorp, the JSE-listed human capital management group, points out that in the last four months of 2012 the economy added 125,029 jobs – 12,556 in December alone – reversing the decline of the first eight months of last year. Jobs growth was recorded in all sectors except mining and manufacturing.

The broad statistics, while positive, nevertheless obscure the negative permanent jobs picture, where employment declined by 5 542 whereas temporary jobs increased by 9 074 during the month.

The unofficial sector – that part of the economy that is not captured by official statistics – grew strongly, creating 9 024 jobs during December.

The primary and secondary sectors continued to shed jobs. Indeed, mining and manufacturing lost as many as 15 000 jobs between them during the month. The tertiary sectors (mostly services) gained 17 000 jobs.

The strongest employment growth was observed in transport (12,7%), wholesale and retail trade (3,4%) and construction (4,7%).

Analysing recent trends in permanent and temporary work in South Africa, Adcorp reveals that from 2000 to 2012, the number of permanent jobs declined by 1,9 million, whereas the number of temporary jobs increased by 2,6 million.

“Currently temporary jobs account for 30,5% of all jobs in South Africa, up from 11% in 2000,” says Adcorp’s labour market analyst Loane Sharp.

Sharp characterises the past decade’s growing substitution of temporary for permanent jobs as “a striking feature” of South Africa’s labour market, noting that since January 2000, the number of permanent jobs has declined by 1,9 million – a period during which temporary jobs increased by 2,6 million.

“In other words, all of the growth in jobs over the past decade has been of a temporary nature.”

Alarmingly, says Sharp, permanent work has not yet begun to increase following the 2009 recession, whereas the recession is hardly evident in the secular increase in temporary work.