Category Archives: Work and labour force

The shifting nature of South Africa’s landscape: a 24-year snapshot of land cover change

The shifting nature of South Africa’s landscape: a 24-year snapshot of land cover change

The land under our feet is, in several senses, living. Alive in terms of the organisms that support healthy soils to cultivate crops. Active in terms of abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors that interact with each other to create distinct ecological systems. Malleable in terms of the changes that humans bring about. Digital snapshots   read more »


Significant movements into the labour force in the 3rd quarter of 2020

Significant movements into the labour force in the 3rd quarter of 2020

In the 3rd quarter of 2020 there were significant movements in the South African labour market. According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), a large number of persons moved from the “other not economically active” category to “employed” and “unemployed” status between quarter two and quarter three of 2020. The movement was proportionately more   read more »


SA loses more than 600K formal sector jobs during COVID-19 lockdown

SA loses more than 600K formal sector jobs during COVID-19 lockdown

According to the Quarterly employment statistics (QES) survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the formal non-agricultural sector shed 648 000 jobs in the second quarter of 2020. This brings the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector in South Africa to 9,5 million. According to the report, formal sector jobs decreased   read more »


SA economy sheds 2,2 million jobs in Q2 but unemployment levels drop

SA economy sheds 2,2 million jobs in Q2 but unemployment levels drop

The South African economy shed 2,2 million jobs in the second quarter of 2020, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey Quarter 2: 2020 results, released by Statistics South Africa on 29 September 2020. The results indicate that the number of employed persons decreased by 2,2 million to 14,1 million in the 2nd quarter   read more »


Decline in formal sector jobs in first quarter 2020

Decline in formal sector jobs in first quarter 2020

According to the Quarterly employment statistics (QES) survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) the formal non-agricultural sector shed 3 000 jobs in the first quarter of 2020. This brings the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector in South Africa to 10,2 million. According to the report, formal sector jobs rose   read more »


Business under lockdown: Pressure might be easing

Business under lockdown: Pressure might be easing

During the final two weeks of Level 5 lockdown, almost half of the businesses responding to our impact survey indicated that they had temporarily ceased trading. During Level 4, this fell to one-fifth, according to a follow-up survey. Other indicators from the Level 4 survey show a similar pattern as the economy returns to full   read more »


Vulnerability of youth in the South African labour market

Vulnerability of youth in the South African labour market

The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2020 indicate that employment decreased by 38 000 to 16,4 million and the number of unemployed persons increased by 344 000 to 7,1 million. As a result, the official unemployment rate increased by 1 percentage point to (30,1%) compared to the fourth quarter   read more »


Statistics South Africa to use telephonic data collection for Quarterly Labour Force Survey (Q2) 2020

Media Release                                                                                                       28 April 2020 Statistics South Africa to use telephonic data collection for Quarterly Labour Force Survey (Q2) 2020 The lockdown and progression of the pandemic resulted in the discontinuation of face-to-face data collection on 19 March 2020. Further to this, Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) Executive Committee took a decision to suspend   read more »


Formal sector jobs moderately up in fourth quarter

Formal sector jobs moderately up in fourth quarter

New employment figures released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) showed that South Africa’s formal non-agricultural sector added 16 000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector to 10,2 million. The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) reported that formal sector jobs rose by 18 000 in   read more »


SA’s Millennials have made substantial strides in education outcomes

SA’s Millennials have made substantial strides in education outcomes

It is often said that each generation should be better off than their parents. In South Africa, generational changes have largely been impacted by important political changes that affected the choices available to Generation X’ers and Millennials in terms of their educational and labour market participations. According to a recent report, Education and Labour Market   read more »