Slight increase in average employment during Q3 2023   By Laura Pillay |07 February 2024

The overall average employment across all industries recorded an increase of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2023 (Photo: Seychelles NATION archives)

During the third quarter of 2023, the average number of employed persons across all sectors stood at 54,979, marking a slight decrease of 0.2 percent compared to the same quarter in 2022.

Average earnings were R15,422.

The latest data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the Employment Figures and Earnings Report sheds light on employment trends and earnings in various sectors, providing valuable insights into the local economy.

Compared to the second quarter of 2023, the overall average employment across all industries recorded an increase of 0.5 percent, with the highest increase of 1.4 percent recorded in the government sector.

Delving deeper into specific industries, notable decreases in employment numbers were observed in sectors such as other service activities at 35.8 percent, real estate activities by 7.5 percent, and administrative and support services by 6.8 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023.

However, significant increases were recorded in industries like activities of households as employers of domestic personnel by 16.2 percent, and the arts, entertainment and recreation industry, in which employment grew by 15.7 percent.

In terms of tourism-related industries, these industries accounted for a significant portion of total employment, with 23 percent of all sector employment in Q3 of 2023. There were on average 11,970 individuals employed in private sector tourism related industries, while 688 were in parastatal and governmental institutions.

In regards to the distribution of employment, the private sector remained the largest employer, employing 65.2 percent of the workforce. This was followed by the government sector with 19.5 percent, and the parastatal sector with 15.4 percent of employed persons.

When examining gender distribution within the government and parastatal sectors, females constituted the majority in the government sector at 64.1 percent, whereas males predominated in the parastatal sector at 59.3 percent.

Expatriates accounted for 5.6 percent of employees in the government, mainly in education, and human health and social work activities. Meanwhile, the 20.5 percent employed in parastatal entities were primarily employed in administrative and support services, and construction. Of the 2,336 non-Seychellois employees, over 2,000 were male employees, outweighing the number of females at 300. 

Turning to earnings, the average earnings for all sectors in Q3 2023 amounted to R15,422, representing a 4.8 percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2022. The government sector boasted the highest average earnings at R19,447, while the private sector had the lowest at R13,760. The parastatal sector fell in between at R17,365.

Across industries, employees in information and communication earned the highest average earnings of R24,996, followed by those employed in financial and insurance activities with R22,260, and health and social work activities at R21,439. Conversely, employees in construction earned the lowest average earnings at R9,982.

Within the context of the private sector, employees in information and communication earned the most, while in the government sector, the highest earners were in the health and social work industry. In the parastatal sector, employees in financial and insurance activities were the most highly paid, topping the earnings of counterparts.

Overall, while there was a slight decrease of 0.2 percent in average employment during Q3 of 2023, earnings saw a healthy increase of 4.8 percent, compared to the same quarter in 2022.

Formal employment and earning statistics are compiled and published by the NBS on a quarterly basis, based on monthly data collection.

For the government and parastatal sectors, data is obtained from the treasury department, the department of information and communications technology (DICT), as well as directly from commercial public sector organisations.

The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) provides data pertaining to the private sector.

The latest edition was published on January 31.