EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA AGRIC SECTOR INCREASES BY 38,000 JOBS

A labour and employment specialist at Agri SA, Lebogang Sethusa, disclosed that employment in the agricultural sector of South Africa had increased by 38,000 jobs quarter-on-quarter, from 829,000 jobs in the third quarter to 868,000 in the fourth quarter.

According to him, “While various provinces showed a growth in employment numbers for agriculture, some 19,000 jobs were shed in the Western Cape, 6,000 in the Free State, and 9,000 in Limpopo.”

Meanwhile, Free State Agriculture (FSA) operations manager, Gernie Botha, said, “The drop in agricultural employment opportunities in the province had come as no surprise.”

In a recent report published by the FSA, farmers were ‘increasingly inclined to make use of alternatives to manual labour, such as agricultural machinery.”

In a statement, the operations manager mentioned, “According to the majority of the respondents, they were forced to reduce employment costs, especially after the recent 16% hike in the national minimum wage. These decisions are not taken lightly, but our members are businesspeople, who run their farming concerns strictly along with business principles.”

However, Agri SA expressed concern about the fact that skilled agricultural employment figures had not recovered to the level of the fourth quarter in 2020.

“While the quarter-on-quarter results do show a level of recovery compared with Q3 2021, there is still much ground to be made up. It remains a concern that this drop in skilled employees actually represents a brain drain for the sector,” Sethusa said.

Job creation has been lauded by the statistics shown on the job creation and opportunities given to the youth, especially amid increasing cost pressure in the country.

 “Employment in the agricultural sector of South Africa had increased by 38,000 jobs quarter-on-quarter, from 829,000 jobs in the third quarter to 868,000 in the fourth quarter”