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 face-to-face data collection after the lockdown is lifted. Data collection for Quarter 2 of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) will therefore be done telephonically, using the Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI) methodology. The delay in the start of data collection for Quarter 2 of this survey, resulting from the extension of the national lockdown, will result in a delay in the publication of the QLFS Quarter 2 report.

The last two weeks of data collection for the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for Quarter 1 of 2020 (January to March) was disrupted due to discontinued fieldwork. The methodology used to compensate for the disruption will form part of the QLFS Quarter 1 of 2020 report, the release of which has been postponed to 9 June 2020.

The General Household Survey (GHS), Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS), the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS) and the Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) will transition to a mixed mode of collection, which includes the use of face-to-face as well as Computer Aided Telephonic Interview (CATI) and Computer Aided Web Interview (CAWI) modes. Consequently, these surveys and their related publications will be delayed whilst Stats SA develops and tests CATI and CAWI systems.

Publication of monthly administrative series such as the Tourism and Migration series will be delayed.

As we transition to mixed-mode data collection we commit to always doing everything in line with the principles of official statistics to ensure that data released are of good quality and can be used to inform the nation with the greatest possible level of confidence.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stats SA is conducting a series on online qualitative surveys to gauge the impact of the pandemic on the population. The first wave focused on health behaviour and perceptions, the results of which will be released shortly. The questionnaire for the second wave, which focuses on socioeconomic and labour market issues, as well as hunger and social relief, is now available. This information will be used by government to better understand the impact of the pandemic, and to devise interventions to assist the population. Your responses are anonymous and no personal information will be recorded.

The survey can be completed using the following link:

http://uss.statssa.gov.za/WebInterview/SPZZQA2C/Start

Revised publication schedule for Population and Social Statistics

COVID-19 has caused delays in the production cycle. Revised publication dates for affected surveys are presented in the table below. Should there be further delays, this will be amended.

Issued by Statistics South Africa

For media inquiries contact:

Felicia Sithole

Cell: 076 430 0693

Email: felicias@statssa.gov.za

For Online survey contact:

Werner Ruch

Cell: 082 906 7957

Email: WernerR@statssa.gov.za