Metros’ job growth lacklustre; Gauteng shedding manufacturing jobs – report

By Irma Venter

South Africa’s eight metros – Cape Town, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni, Mangaung and eThekwini – have seen a lacklustre employment trajectory over the last decade, says a research report published in the Development Southern Africa journal.

The report also shows that none of the eight metros experienced appreciable employment growth in the manufacturing sector.

In fact, the three Gauteng metros all lost manufacturing jobs.

The report, titled ‘Striking disparities in employment across South Africa: Evidence from a new spatial database’, was written by the University of the Free State’s Professor Ivan Turok, and the Human Sciences Research Council’s Justin Visagie.

The evidence for the report comes from a new spatial database about local economies based on the mining of administrative tax records (www.spatialtaxdata.org.za).

The report notes that there has been much speculation about the contrasting fortunes of South Africa’s metros, especially that of