October Household Survey
Statistical release
P0317


1997
Embargo: 09:30
Date: 4 November 1999

Read the following notice with regard to the eleven official languages  

© Copyright 1999

Users may apply or process this data, provided Statistics South Africa is acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specified that the application and/or analysis is the result of the user’s independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever.

Dr F M Orkin
Head: Statistics South Africa

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Key comparisons between OHS ’96 and OHS ’97
Urbanization, population group, age and gender
Urban and non-urban population in each province
Access to infrastructure in urban and non-urban areas by population group of household head
Type of dwelling in which households live in urban and non-urban areas .
Unemployment in urban and non-urban areas by gender and race
Unemployment and education
Confidence limits
Notes
1. Official and expanded unemployment rates
2. Sampling of the successive OHS surveys
3. Sample design for the 1997 OHS
4. Weighting the 1997 OHS
5. Employment in the agricultural sector
6. Symbols used in the tables
7. Comparability of results with other Stats SA data sources
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tables
1. Population in urban and non-urban areas
1.1 By province, population group and gender
1.2 By age group, population group and gender
2. Economically and not economically active population in urban and non-urban areas (between 15 and 65 years of age) by population group and gender
2.1 Using the official definition
2.1.1 Total
2.1.2 Africans
2.1.3 Coloureds
2.1.4 Indians/Asians
2.1.5 Whites
2.2 Using the expanded definition
2.2.1 Total
2.2.2 Africans
2.2.3 Coloureds
2.2.4 Indians/Asians
2.2.5 Whites
3. Workers
3.1 By industry, population group and gender
3.2 By occupation, population group and gender
3.3 By level of education, population group and gender
4. Informal sector
4.1 Total number of workers involved in the informal sector by population group and gender
4.2 By industry population group and gender
4.3 By occupation, population group and gender
5. Unemployed
5.1 By official and expanded definition, population group and gender
5.2 Unemployed in urban and non-urban areas by age, population group and gender
5.2.1 Using the official definition
5.2.2 Using the expanded definition
5.3 Unemployed by previous occupation, population group and gender
5.3.1 Using the official definition
5.3.2 Using the expanded definition
5.4 Unemployed by level of education, population group and gender
5.4.1 Using the official definition
5.4.2 Using the expanded definition
6. Dwellings and services available for dwelling
6.1 Type of dwelling in urban and non-urban areas by number of rooms in dwelling
6.1.1 Total
6.1.2 Africans
6.1.3 Coloureds
6.1.4 Indians/Asians
6.1.5 Whites
6.2 Type of dwelling by main material used for roof and walls
6.3 Main source of domestic water for drinking purposes in urban and non-urban areas, by population group
6.4 Availability of domestic water in urban and non-urban areas by population group
6.5 Main source of energy by population group
6.6 Main source of wood in urban and non-urban areas, if wood is the main energy source for either cooking or heating
6.7 Sanitation facilities in urban and non-urban areas by population group
6.8 Refuse disposal in urban and non-urban areas by population group
6.9 Telecommunication in urban and non-urban areas by population group
7. Education
7.1 Level of education of population aged 20 years and older by group and gender
7.2 Persons (5-24 years) attending educational institutions in urban and non-urban areas by population group, age and gender
8. Quality of life
8.1 By population group
9. Health statistics
9.1 Type of medical service usually consulted in urban and non-urban areas by distance, means of transport, time of journey and population group

A complete set of Stats SA publications is available in the Stats SA Library, and in the following public libraries:

State Library, Pretoria                                                                               South African Library, Cape Town
Natal Society Library, Pietermaritzburg                                                     Library of Parliament, Cape Town
Bloemfontein Public Library                                                                      Johannesburg Public Library

 OCTOBER HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, 1997

 INTRODUCTION

 This statistical release presents a selection of indicative findings and tables from Stats SA’s 1997 October household survey (OHS). The OHS is an annual survey, based on a probability sample of a large number of households (ranging from 16 000 to 30 000), covering a range of development indicators, including the detailed official measurement of the unemployment rate according to standard definitions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The sample size, sampling and weighting procedures for the 1997 OHS are different from those used in 1996. Details of the various OHS sample sizes, sampling and weighting procedures are given in Notes 2, 3 and 4 on page 11. In 1997, the survey gathered information on about 150 000 people of all population groups, living in 30 000 households across the country.

 The next section of the report, "Key comparisons", indicates key similarities and differences in the recently released 1996 OHS findings as against 1997. The release examines living in urban and non-urban environments, access to infrastructure and facilities in these two different types of milieu, and in unemployment according to both the official and the expanded definition. It also contains graphs of urban/non-urban breakdowns for 1997 by province, type of dwelling in which households lived, and individuals’ education in relation to their employment status. Other breakdowns, and several other development-related variables, are covered in the later section of "Tables".

Both the 1996 and 1997 OHS data sets, weighted to the 1996 population census (adjusted upwards to take population growth into account in 1997) are available on CD-ROM from User enquiries. The 1996 OHS statistical release can also be obtained from them (See the section on "For more information" (page 14)).

A fuller comparison of the five most recent OHSs, from 1994 to 1998, will follow after the release of OHS ’98 data set. Findings regarding comparisons between four OHSs (1994 to 1997) in respect of employment and unemployment and the associated breakdowns have already been issued, both as a statistical release (PO317.10) and as an analytical report (Unemployment and employment in South Africa). These publications are available from users’ enquiries. Because the census results were not yet available to use for weighting, the data in these two publications had to be weighted according to the post-enumeration survey of the census. They differ slightly from those reported here.

KEY COMPARISONS BETWEEN OHS ’96 AND OHS ’97

 Certain changes are difficult to detect over a one-year period, since they become measurable only in the longer term. For example patterns regarding changes in the level of education of the population aged 20 years or more are difficult to isolate in one year. On the other hand, some changes, for example access to jobs and to formal housing, are easier to detect during a shorter time period.

 This summary focuses on those possible short-term changes between 1996 and 1997, which may be easier to detect, as shown in the two successive OHSs. But these findings need to be viewed with extreme caution, since they are based on two cross-sectional samples. Although Stats SA has calculated standard errors and confidence intervals for certain variables to take sampling errors into account, and to make the comparisons possible, a longer time series is required to examine these changes more thoroughly and with less tentativeness.

 Urbanisation, population group, age and gender

 Table A below shows the relationships between population group, age, gender and place of residence in 1996 and 1997.

TABLE A: THE PERCENTAGE OF MALES AND FEMALES LIVING IN URBAN AREAS BY AGE CATEGORY AND POPULATION GROUP

 

Gender and age groups

Total population: (urban and non-urban)

 

Total

urban

 

African urban

 

Coloured

urban

 

Indian

urban

 

White

urban

 

N (000s)

%*

%*

%*

%*

%*

 

1996

1997

1996

1997

1996

1997

1996

1997

1996

***

1997

***

1996****

1997

***

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

(viii)

(ix)

(x)

(xi)

(xii)

(xiii)

(a) Total:

0 – 14 years

15 – 39 years

40 – 64 years

65 years +

Unspecified

All ages

 

13 897

17 571

7 338

1 769

8

40 585

 

14 154

17 903

7 405

1 973

10

41 444

 

45,2

57,6

60,6

50,3

-**

53,6

 

44,9

58,1

63,1

53,2

-**

54,2

 

36,1

48,8

47,2

31,8

-**

43,3

 

35,2

48,9

49,1

32,9

-**

44,8

 

82,4

83,6

85,7

82,6

-**

83,5

 

84,1

84,8

86,6

87,1

-**

84,1

 

93,3

95,0

93,3

91,2

-**

94,1

 

98,6

98,5

98,5

100,0

-**

98,7

 

91,0

93,3

91,7

91,6

-**

92,2

 

95,4

95,5

94,9

96,4

-**

95,4

(b) Male:

0 – 14 years

15 – 39 years

40 – 64 years

65 years +

Unspecified

All ages

 

7 045

8 387

3 330

739

3

19 505

 

7 071

8 669

3 468

760

8

19 971

 

45,2

59,8

64,1

51.0

-**

54,9

 

44,6

59,9

65,9

55,5

-**

55,4

 

36,5

51,3

51,1

33,2

-**

44,9

 

34,8

51,4

54,2

35,1

-**

45,5

 

80,9

83,4

85,4

78,0

-**

82,8

 

83,5

84,6

85,7

82,5

-**

84,3

 

95,1

93,8

93,3

88,9

-**

94,2

 

98,6

99,1

98,4

-**

-**

98,7

 

91,0

92,7

91,6

88,5

-**

91,6

 

95,6

95,1

94,0

95,8

-**

95,1

(c) Female:

0 – 14 years

15 – 39 years

40 – 64 years

65 years +

Unspecified

All ages

 

6 852

9 184

4 008

1 030

5

21 078

 

7083

9 236

3 937

1 213

9

21 473

 

45,3

55,8

57,8

50,1

-**

52,5

 

45,1

56,5

59,8

51,7

-**

53,6

 

35,8

46,5

44,2

31,1

-**

41,8

 

36,4

46,9

45,2

31,6

-**

41,9

 

83,8

83,8

85,9

86,2

-**

84,2

 

84,7

84,8

87,8

89,2

-**

85,6

 

90,9

96,2

92,5

93,8

-**

93,9

 

98,6

98,7

98,6

-**

-**

98,9

 

91,0

93,9

91,9

94,1

-**

92,7

 

95,2

96,0

95,3

97,1

-**

95,7

* Each percentage is a percentage of all people in that particular category. For example, in column (iv), second row of the block
    labelled (a),   45,2% of all males and females aged 0 - 14 years lived in urban areas in October 1996. It follows that the remainder
    (54,8%) lived in non-urban areas.
** Number of responses were too few for this analysis.
*** These percentages should be treated with extreme caution, bearing in mind the small number of respondents in non-urban
        areas in the samples.

The table shows the following patterns:

 Urban and non-urban population in each province

Figure 1 indicates the proportion of people living in urban and non-urban areas in each province in 1997. It shows that Gauteng had the largest percentage of people living in urban areas, followed by the Western Cape. The Free State and Northern Cape had relatively high proportions of people living in urban areas, but they consist largely of small towns. The province with the smallest proportion living in urban areas was the Northern Province, followed by Eastern Cape with the second smallest proportion, and then North West.

 

Figure 1: Percentage of the population living in urban areas in each province

 

 

Access to infrastructure in urban and non-urban areas by population group of household head

Access to infrastructure varied, not only by whether the household lived in an urban or non-urban area in October 1996 and 1997, but also by the population group of the household head.

 Table B below indicates these findings. Only the total numbers and percentages of households with access to infrastructure in the country as a whole, and those households headed by Africans are shown in this table, since relatively few coloured-, Indian- and white-headed households did not have access to these facilities.

 The table indicates the following:

 

TABLE B: THE PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE IN URBAN AND NON-URBAN AREAS BY POPULATION GROUP OF HOUSEHOLD HEAD

 

Type of infrastructure in

Total

households

Households with access to infrastructure by population group of household head

urban and non-urban areas

with access

1996 1997

Total

1996

Total

1997

Africans

1996

Africans 1997

 

 

(i)

N (000’s)

(ii)

N

(000’s)

(iii)

 

%*

(iv)

 

%*

(v)

 

%*

(vi)

 

%*

(vii)

(a) Both urban and non-urban:

Running water in dwelling or on site

Electricity for main lighting source

Flush/chem. toilet in dwelling/on site

Cell phone/telephone in dwelling

Total number of households

 

5 642

5 629

4 881

3 257

9 067

 

5 954

6 028

5 639

3 536

9 258

 

62,2

62,1

53,8

35,9

 

64,3

65,1

60,9

38,2

 

 

47,6

47,6

36,5

15,3

 

 

51,9

53,5

48,3

17,4

 

(b) Urban:

Running water in dwelling or on site

Electricity for main lighting source

Flush/chem. toilet in dwelling/on site

Cell phone/telephone in dwelling

Total number of households

 

4 721

4 478

4 446

3 028

5 430

 

4 984

4 747

4 712

3 337

5 636

 

86,9

82,5

81,9

55,8

 

88,4

84,2

83,6

59,2

 

77,8

70,3

69,7

27,4

 

81,5

74,8

74,7

32,2

 

(c) Non-urban:

Running water in dwelling or on site

Electricity for main lighting source

Flush/chem. toilet in dwelling/on site

Telephone/cell phone in dwelling

Total number of households

 

923

1 150

435

238

3 637

 

970

1 281

928

199

3 622

 

25,4

31,6

12,0

6,5

 

26,8

35,4

25,6

5,5

 

20,9

27,6

7,2

2,5

 

23,4

32,9

22,8

3,1

* Each percentage is a percentage of all people in that particular category. For example, in second column of the second row of the block labelled (c) we read in column (ii) that in non-urban areas 923 households altogether had running water inside the dwelling, in the back yard or on the site where they lived in 1996. This means that 25,4% of all households (column iv) had running water in the dwelling or on site in 1996.

Type of dwelling in which households live in urban and non-urban areas

Figure 2 shows that approximately three quarters of the households (74%) were living in formal dwellings such as a house on a separate stand, a flat in a block of flats, a townhouse or a brick room or flatlet in a back yard in October 1997. In urban areas, this proportion was higher, but it was lower in non-urban areas. Approximately one in every seven households in urban areas (15%) were living in informal housing or shacks, either in informal settlements or in back yards. In non-urban areas, approximately one in every three households (33%) were living in traditional dwellings.

Figure 2: Types of dwellings in which households live in urban and non-urban areas 

 

 

Unemployment in urban and non-urban areas by gender and race

Unemployment varied significantly in both 1996 and 1997, not only by urban or non-urban place of residence, but also by gender and population group, using either the official or the expanded definition of unemployment (see Statistical release P0317.10 and the definitions in this release).

 Table C below compares unemployment rates in 1996 and 1997 in terms of the official definition of unemployment, while Table D compares unemployment rates over the two years using the expanded definition. These tables indicate the following differences in unemployment rates by population group, gender and milieu in 1996 and 1997.

TABLE C: OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES AMONGST MALES AND FEMALES LIVING IN URBAN AND NON-URBAN AREAS BY POPULATION GROUP,

OCTOBER 1996 AND 1997

 

Population group and type of unemployment rate

Urban

male

Urban female

Non-urban male

Non-urban female

Total

male

Total female

Total

 

(i)

%*

(ii)

%*

(iii)

%*

(iv)

%*

(v)

%*

(vi)

%*

(vii)

%*

(viii)

(a) All population groups:

Official unemployment rate: 1996

Official unemployment rate: 1997

 

15,1

16,8

 

22,2

24,4

 

20,7

22,4

 

31,7

32,4

 

16,8

18,4

 

24,8

26,6

 

20,3

22,0

(b) Africans:

Official unemployment rate: 1996

Official unemployment rate: 1997

 

21,3

23,6

 

31,1

33,5

 

23,7

24,5

 

35,1

34,5

 

22,2

23,9

 

32,6

33,8

 

26,8

28,3

(c) Coloureds:

Official unemployment rate: 1996

Official unemployment rate: 1997

 

11,2

14,7

 

16,8

19,8

 

4,4

-**

 

1,7

-**

 

9,9

13,1

 

14,4

18,3

 

11,9

15,3

(d) Indians:

Official unemployment rate: 1996

Official unemployment rate: 1997

 

9,5

8,4

 

13,0

12,2

 

- **

-**

 

-**

-**

 

9,1

8,5

 

13,0

12,2

 

10,8

9,8

(e) Whites:

Official unemployment rate: 1996

Official unemployment rate: 1997

 

3,7

3,0

 

4,5

5,0

 

1,0

-**

 

0,7

-**

 

3,4

3,1

 

4,3

5,3

 

3,8

4,0

* Each percentage is a percentage of all people in that particular category. For example, in the block labelled (c) in column (ii) we see that in 1996, according to the official definition of unemployment, 11,2% of economically active coloured males living in urban areas were unemployed.
** Number of responses were too few for this analysis.

TABLE D: EXPANDED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES AMONGST MALES AND

FEMALES LIVING IN URBAN AND NON-URBAN AREAS BY POPULATION GROUP,

OCTOBER 1996 AND 1997

Urban

Urban

Non-

Non-

Total

Total

Total

Population group and type

male

female

urban

urban

male

female

of unemployment rate

male

female

 

(i)

%*

(ii)

%*

(iii)

%*

(iv)

%*

(v)

%*

(vi)

%*

(vii)

%*

(viii)

( a ) All population groups:

Expanded unemployment rate: 1996

23,9

35,1

37,5

54,6

28,3

41,4

34,4

Expanded unemployment rate: 1997

25,2

37,6

42,0

59,5

30,7

45,2

37,4

( b ) Africans:

Expanded unemployment rate: 1996

33,2

46,9

41,7

58,9

36,7

51,1

43,8

Expanded unemployment rate: 1997

34,7

49,2

45,0

61,9

39,0

54,8

46,5

( c ) Coloureds:

Expanded unemployment rate: 1996

16,4

24,6

6,8

12,2

14,6

22,6

18,3

Expanded unemployment rate: 1997

20,1

27,7

10,1

20,7

18,4

26,7

22,1

( d ) Indians:

Expanded unemployment rate: 1996

12,3

19,5

-**

-**

11,8

20,0

14,9

Expanded unemployment rate: 1997

10,2

17,1

-**

-**

10,2

17,1

12,8

( e ) Whites:

Expanded unemployment rate: 1996

4,6

6,6

2,1

3,5

4,4

6,5

5,3

Expanded unemployment rate: 1997

4,3

8,6

-**

-**

4,3

9,9

6,2

* Each percentage is a percentage of all people in that particular category. For example, in the block labelled (c) in column (ii) we see that in 1996, according to the expanded definition of unemployment, 16,4% of economically active coloured males living in urban areas were unemployed.
** Number of responses were too few for this analysis.

Unemployment and education

Figure 3 indicates that there is a curvilinear relationship between unemployment and education in 1997. Using the official unemployment rate, unemployment is highest among those economically active people who have completed primary school, but it is lowest for those economically active people with post-school qualifications or with no education. The same pattern was found in 1996

Figure 3: Percentage of the economically active in each education category who are unemployed (official definition) 

 

 

Confidence limits

Table E indicates the estimated values, and the lower and upper confidence limits at the 95% level, for both the number and the percentage of certain selected variables from OHS ’96 and OHS ’97, for example unemployment rates, type of housing and access to services. (Information on confidence limits at lower levels of disaggregation, for example by population group and gender, or for provinces or other variables, may be obtained from Stats SA.)

For example, if we look at the 1996 unemployment numbers using the official rate, we see that an estimated 2,22 million people were unemployed. We are 95% confident that the actual value of this estimate falls within the range from 1,99 million and 2,46 million. If we look at the percentages in the same row, the estimated unemployment rate is 20,3%. We are 95% confident that the unemployment rate lies somewhere between 18,5% and 22,2%.

TABLE E: CONFIDENCE LIMITS AT THE 95% LEVEL FOR SELECTED VARIABLES

   

Confidence intervals (numbers)

 

Estimated

Confidence intervals (%)

Variable

Estimated

number

Lower limit

Upper limit

%

Lower limit

Upper limit

Unemployment:

           

1996 - official unemployment

2 223 816

1 990 658

2 456 974

20,3

18,5

22,2

1997 - official unemployment

2 450 974

2 349 254

2 556 695

22,0

21,1

22,9

             

1996 - expanded unemployment

4 565 840

4 263 415

4 868 265

34,4

32,5

36,3

1997 - expanded unemployment

5 202 173

5 050 486

5 353 860

37,4

36,5

38,4

Employment:

1996 - employment

1997 - employment

 

8 716 175

8 700 028

 

8 275 257

8 517 877

 

9 157 093

8 882 179

 

79,7

78,0

 

77,8

77,1

 

81,5

78,9

Type of dwelling:

           

1996 - separate formal house

5 072 177

4 859 047

5 285 306

56,0

54,0

57,9

1997 - separate formal house

5 818 505

5 678 005

5 959 005

62,9

61,5

64,3

             

1996 - traditional

1 689 252

1 582 486

1 796 017

18,6

17,5

19,8

1997 - traditional

1 253 780

1 191 453

1 316 107

13,5

12,9

16,2

             

1996 - informal settlement

867 914

777 351

958 477

9,6

8,6

10,6

1997 - informal settlement

844 555

755 783

933 327

9,1

8,2

10,1

Main water supply:

           

1996 - tap inside

4 126 092

3 924 913

4 327 271

45,5

43,7

47,3

1997 - tap inside

3 865 245

3 711 214

4 019 277

41,8

40,3

43,3

             

1996 - tap on site

1 515 775

1 384 578

1 646 971

16,7

15,3

18,2

1997 - tap on site

2 082 235

1 977 864

2 186 606

22,5

21,4

23,7

Source for lighting:

           

1996 - electricity

5 626 801

5 414 734

5 838 868

62,1

60,3

63,8

1997 - electricity

6 022 155

5 877 072

6 167 238

65,1

63,7

66,4

             

1996 - candles

2 252 191

2 103 677

2 400 704

24,8

23,3

26,4

1997 - candles

2 138 999

2 047 801

2 230 197

23,1

22,1

24,1

The table indicates that living conditions in the country had improved between 1996 and 1997.

 Table E also indicates that there is a possible increase in unemployment over this time period. There was a significant increase in unemployment using the expanded rather than the strict definition, or an increase in the number and proportion of discouraged work-seekers.

NOTES

1. Official and expanded unemployment rates

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) uses the following definition of unemployment as its official definition. The unemployed are those people within the economically active population, who: (a) did not work during the seven days prior to the interview, (b) want to work and are available to start work within a week of the interview, and (c) have taken active steps to look for work or to start some form of self-employment in the four weeks prior to the interview. The expanded unemployment rate excludes criterion (c).

Among those who are included in the expanded but not the official definition of unemployment will be discouraged job seekers (those who said they were unemployed but had not taken active steps to find work in the four weeks prior to the interview). Stats SA research currently being conducted shows that the main reasons cited for having stopped looking for work are: a loss of hope of finding work (33%), a lack of jobs in the area in which respondents live (25%) and a lack of money for transport to look for work (18%).

Stats SA will continue to report on the situation of the unemployed using both the official and the expanded definition, since in the present economic climate, there is a large group of discouraged work seekers whose life circumstances need to be taken into account.

2. Sampling of the successive OHS surveys

Altogether, six October household surveys have been conducted. The first OHS was undertaken in October 1993, but this survey is not comparable with the other later surveys, since it excluded the former Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (TBVC states).

 This release of the 1997 OHS forms part of a series of releases of household survey information.

 Statistics South Africa plans to do further comparisons of the data across these surveys in a variety of its future publications. It has already compared employment and unemployment situation in the country in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 using the October household surveys in its Statistical release P0317.10.

 3. Sample design for the 1997 OHS

The OHSs of 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 were independent surveys, and different samples were designed for each of them.

 The data base of EAs, as established during the demarcation phase of Census ’96, constituted the sampling frame for selecting EAs for the 1997 OHS. The sampling procedure involved explicit stratification by province and transitional metropolitan and district councils. Independent samples of EAs were drawn for each stratum within each province. The smaller provinces were given a disproportionately larger number of EAs than the bigger provinces.

 Altogether, 3 000 EAs were drawn by means of probability proportional to size principles in each stratum. The measure of size was the number of households in each EA. Interviewing for the 1997 OHS took place in these 3 000 EAs, and systematic sampling was applied to select 10 households to visit in each EA. This means that 3 000 EAs were identified as primary sampling units, and 30 000 households were visited as ultimate sampling units.

 4. Weighting the1997 OHS

The 1997 OHS was weighted to estimates of the population size based on the population census of October 1996, as adjusted by a post-enumeration survey (PES), using post-stratification by province, gender and five-year interval age groups. Relative scaling was also done, to cater for population group and urban - non-urban splits.

 The 1996 OHS was also weighted to the PES-adjusted count of Census’96. However, because of the smaller sample size and the more clustered sample of households that was drawn, different weighting procedures were used, as discussed in the 1996 OHS statistical release.

 Prior to 1996, OHS surveys were weighted to reflect estimates of population size using the 1991 population census. The data reported here for 1997 and those recently reported for 1996 are therefore not presently directly comparable with the previously published OHS figures for 1994 and 1995. Statistics South Africa is in a process of re-weighting the earlier surveys to reflect estimates of the population size based on the 1996 population census. After this process is complete, comparisons between 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 will be possible.

5. Employment in the agricultural sector

The agricultural sector shows a sharp decline between 1995 (re-weighted to Census ’96) and 1996, and no change was noted between 1996 and 1997 for the following reasons.

6. Symbols used in the tables that follow

When a zero (0) is shown in a table, there were fewer than 500 respondents, after weighting, in this category. When a dash (-) is shown there were no respondents in the category.

When a single asterisk (*) is shown in the table, the sample size was too small to give reliable estimates.

7. Comparability of results with other Stats SA data sources

The Survey of total employment and earnings (STEE) collects information on formal employment in South Africa. The latest results of the STEE, i.e. for June 1999, were published in September, 1999 in statistical release P0271.These show a steady decline in formal sector employment, from 5,2 million in September 1996 to 4,9 million in June 1999.

Care should be taken when comparing the results of the STEE with results of the annual OHSs, since different target populations, survey designs and methodologies are used. The OHS collects information from households, the STEE collects information from formal sector businesses, excluding the following:

In the OHS, however, it is a household, rather than a business in a particular sector, which is sampled. This household selection determines whether or not a person is included in a particular OHS. In a probability sample such as the OHS, households containing people working in each of the above categories have the same chance of being selected in the proportion in which they work in a particular sector as those working in the other formal sectors covered in the STEE. The OHS, through its different methodology, thus covers all sectors.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

 A household consists of a single person or a group of people who live together for at least four nights a week, who eat together and who share resources.

 Population group describes the racial classification of a particular group of South African citizens. The previous government used this type of classification to divide the South African population into distinct groupings on which to base apartheid policies. It is important for Stats SA to continue to use this classification wherever possible, since it clearly indicates the effects of discrimination of the past, and permits monitoring of policies to alleviate discrimination. In the past, population group was based on a legal definition, but it is now based on self-perceptions and self-classification. An African/black person is someone who classifies him/herself as such. The same applies to a coloured, Indian/Asian or white person.

 A hostel is a communal living quarter for workers, provided by a public organisation such as a local authority, or a private organisation, such as a mining company. These were residential dormitories established for migrant workers during the apartheid era, and they continue to house people working in certain industries, such as the mining industry.

 Institutions are communal temporary, semi-permanent or permanent living arrangements for people in special circumstances, for example prisons, police cells, school boarding facilities, homes for the aged or the disabled, hotels and hospitals.

 The working age population includes all those aged between 15 and 65 years.

 The economically active population consists of both those who are employed and those who are unemployed.

 The employed are those who performed work for pay, profit or family gain in the seven days prior to the household survey interview, or who were absent from work during these seven days, but they did have some form of paid work during this time.

 The official unemployment rate: see Note 1.

 The expanded unemployment rate: see Note 1.

 The people who are out of the labour market or who are not economically active are those who are not available for work. This category includes full-time scholars and students, full-time homemakers, those who are retired, and those who are unable or unwilling to work.

The formal sector includes all businesses which are registered for tax purposes, and which have a VAT number.

The informal sector consists of those businesses which are unregistered and do not have a VAT number. They are generally small in nature, and are seldom run from business premises. Instead, they are run from homes, street pavements or other informal arrangements.

Primary industries include agriculture, forestry and fishing, and mining and quarrying.

Secondary industries include manufacturing, electricity and other utilities, and construction.

Tertiary industries include trade, transport, financial and business services, and social, personal and community services.

Type of employment refers to whether or not the person is self-employed, or works as an employee, or both, or else works as a domestic worker in a household.

Location refers to whether the person lives in an urban or non-urban area.

Workers include the self-employed, employers and employees.

 FOR MORE INFORMATION

 Stats SA publishes approximately 300 different releases per year. It is not economically viable to produce them in more than one of South Africa’s eleven official languages. Since the releases are used extensively, not only locally, but also by international economic and social-scientific communities, Stats SA releases are published in English only.

 Stats SA has copyright on this publication. You are, however, free to use the information in it as you wish, provided that you acknowledge Stats SA as the source of the basic data wherever you process, apply, utilise, publish or distribute the data: and also that you specify that the relevant application and analyses (where applicable) result from your own processing of the data.

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October household survey, 1997

 Data and metadata set

 The data and metadata set from the 1997 October household survey is available on CD-ROM at the following prices:

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Students                                        R 500    R1 000

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