Employment in South Africa's formal non-agricultural sector fell by 0.2 percent or 16 000 jobs to 9.733-million in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, the national statistics agency said on Tuesday.

The number however reflects a 0.2 percent or 17 000 increase over the same quarter in 2017, Statistics South Africa said.

It said the quarter-on-quarter employment decline was mainly driven by the manufacturing industry which lost 7 000 jobs or 0.6 percent, while construction shed 5 000 jobs or 0.8 percent and mining was down 2 000 jobs, as was the trade industry. Other losses were in the transport and community services sectors.

Job gains were recorded in business services industry, where employment was up by 2 000 while the electricity sector was unchanged from the second quarter.

Stats SA said total earnings paid to employees increased by R26-billion or 4.2 percent to R653-billion in the three months to September compared to the previous quarter. This reflected a rise of R35-billion or 5.6 percent over the same period last year.