Both transport and construction have shed roughly 5% to 6% of their workers since December 2018, while mining has bucked the trend. It grew modestly from 453,000 to 472,000 workers over the same period.

The Covid-19 pandemic worsened the drop in construction, pushing employment to a low of 539,000 in Q2 2020.  The sector has been further weighed down by a sharp drop in activity, from R156-billion in 2016 to R99-billion in 2025, according to the Government Technical Advisory Centre.

According to Statistics South Africa, the transport figure, which includes storage and communication businesses, fell partly owing to job losses in land and pipeline transport.

Some of mining's growth can be attributed to the chrome, Platinum Group Metals and gold sectors adding jobs, noted the Minerals Council of South Africa.

Despite these pressures, total formal non-agricultural employment grew from 10.2-million to 10.6-million between 2018 and 2025, according to Statistics South Africa's Quarterly Employment Statistics.