South Africa was in the midst of a prolonged slump in the labour market, a labour market index showed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Solidarity researcher Gerhard van Onselen told Fin24 that there was a small recovery in the index but that a prolonged slump in the labour market was a concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is slow or no real growth and retrenchments in some sectors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite an increase from 42.9 to 43.4 the index remained below 50, which represented the \u201cbreak-even level between rising and falling wage and job security\u201d, according to Solidarity.<\/p>\n
Van Onselen said that in general, the labour market had not yet recovered from the underlying structural weaknesses that prevailed since December 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe danger is that events such as the five-month strike in the platinum sector has caused lasting damage to the labour market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that various macroeconomic indicators such as the decline in motor vehicle sales and growing risks in the retail sectors indicated a possible further economic downturn that could have a ripple effect on other consumer sectors.<\/p>\n
SA’s unemployment rate increased to 25.5% in the third quarter of 2015, Statistics SA announced in October.<\/p>\n
Unemployment was up by 0.5 of a percentage point from the second quarter rate of 25%.<\/p>\n
The quarterly job and wage security index was compiled by trade union Solidarity and ETM Analytics and was based on a survey of 400 Solidarity members.<\/p>\n
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