POLITICS

Employee confidence drops sharply in 2nd quarter of 2014 - Solidarity

Paul Joubert says Labour Market Index fell to 33,3 from 45,2 the period before

Employee confidence declines sharply in second quarter of 2014

The employee confidence component in the Solidarity-ETM Labour Market Index (LMI) declined sharply to 33,3 in the second quarter of this year after a first quarter figure of 45,2. This information is included in the July-September issue of the South African Labour Market Report, published by the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) in conjunction with market strategists ETM Analytics.

In addition to an employee confidence index, the LMI also includes benchmarks for labour affordability and business cycle fluctuations. As a whole, it declined from 44,3 to 39,3 in the second quarter. A value of 50 represents the threshold level between rising and falling job and wage security.

According to Paul Joubert, senior economic researcher at the SRI, the decline in the component for employee confidence indicates that employees are experiencing a difficult labour market. "The sharp decline reflects the huge disruption caused by the strike in the platinum sector. The effect of the strike was not merely felt by the mines alone; it also had a much wider ripple effect on suppliers of products and services to the mines. From the first to the second quarter, the group of respondents with the highest level of job security decreased from 32% to 22%, while the group with the lowest job security increased from 16% to 23% of all respondents," Joubert said. 

Other topics discussed in this issue of the South African Labour Market Report include:  

This is how much income metal strikers lost;

Racial transformation in the civil service;

Labour relations: the good, the bad and the future;

An overview of conditions in the South African economy; and

How the business cycle disrupts labour markets.

To view the full report, click here.

Pictures of the event available on request.

Statement issued by Paul Joubert, Senior researcher: Solidarity, July 30 2014

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