South Africa recorded an increase in employment in the fourth quarter of 2025, with total jobs rising by 18,000 or 0.2% to 10.55 million in December, from 10.53 million in September.
This is according to the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) on Tuesday.
The quarterly gain was driven primarily by growth in the trade sector, which added 37,000 jobs, and business services, which increased by 17,000.
Employment in electricity remained unchanged. These gains were partially offset by declines across several industries, including construction, which shed 13,000 jobs, manufacturing with a loss of 11,000, community services down 5,000, transport down 4,000 and mining down 3,000.
Despite the quarterly increase, total employment fell by 102,000 jobs, or 1.0%, compared with December 2024.
Full-time and part-time employment figures
Full-time employment rose by 14,000 jobs, or 0.1%, to 9.43 million over the quarter. Growth was recorded in trade, business services and community services, while electricity employment remained flat. Losses were reported in construction, transport, manufacturing and mining.
Part-time employment increased by 4,000 jobs, or 0.4%, reaching 1.12 million in December. Gains were recorded in trade, business services and transport, while electricity again showed no change. However, part-time employment declined in community services, manufacturing and construction.
Earnings, salaries, wages and bonuses
Gross earnings paid to employees rose sharply over the quarter, increasing by R74.7bn, or 7.4%, from R1.01tn in September to R1.08tn in December. The increase was broad-based across all industries, including community services, business services, trade, manufacturing, construction, transport, electricity and mining.
Year-on-year, gross earnings increased by R49.6bn, or 4.8%.
Basic salaries and wages increased by R16.6bn, or 1.8%, to R930.8bn in December, with gains recorded across all industries. On an annual basis, basic wages rose by R40.4bn, or 4.5%.
Bonus payments saw a significant quarterly surge, rising by R58.1bn, or 92.5%, to R120.9bn. This increase was driven by higher payouts in business services, trade, community services, manufacturing, construction, transport and electricity. Compared with December 2024, bonuses increased by R8.6bn, or 7.6%.
Overtime payments edged up by R41m, or 0.1%, to R28.4bn, supported by increases in community services, construction, manufacturing and trade. Declines were recorded in business services, transport and electricity.
Average monthly earnings increased marginally by 0.1% to R29,690 between August and November 2025, while annual growth in average monthly earnings stood at 4.9% between November 2024 and November 2025.
