Job growth slowed in February to an annual rate of 1.5% - or 24,000 jobs created, according to the Adcorp Employment Index released on Monday.

"During the month, the economy created 24,000 jobs, slowing from the 80,000 jobs created in January," Adcorp said in a statement.

Over 90% of the jobs, around 22,000 were created in the informal sector.

In the formal sector, more jobs were created in the manufacturing sector (5.3%), the construction sector (4.7%) and wholesale and retail trade (3.5%).

"This is the first time in more than 12 months that job growth in the production-oriented sectors exceeded job growth in the consumption-oriented sectors," Adcorp said.

"Nonetheless, mining employment continued to shrink, with a loss of 3000 jobs in February."

High-skilled employment - senior managers and professionals, showed the strongest growth at a rate of 5.3%.

The steepest decline was recorded among low-skilled employment with trades and elementary workers at minus 1.3%.
      
-Sapa