Seychelles Average Employment Edges Up in Third Quarter of 2023, NBS Reports
VICTORIA, Seychelles — The average number of employed persons across all sectors in Seychelles stood at 54,979 during the third quarter of 2023, marking a slight decrease of 0.2 percent compared to the same quarter in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported. Average earnings over the same period were R15,422. The latest data, published by the 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. The framing of the figures as a ‘slight decrease’ on a year-on-year basis, alongside a 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter increase, is being read by analysts as a sign of relative stability in the labour market.
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 of 2023. The breadth of the decreases, in effect, is being read as a sign of the unevenness of the recovery across different parts of the economy, with some sectors contracting sharply even as others continued to grow.
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. The growth in the arts and entertainment sector is being read as a sign of the gradual normalisation of cultural and recreational activities in the post-pandemic period.
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.
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. Formal employment and earning statistics are compiled and published by the NBS on a quarterly basis, based on monthly data collection, with the latest edition having been published on January 31.
