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Changes in self-employment in the agricultural sector, South Africa: 1994-2012

Author

Listed:
  • Liz Neyens

    (Analysis Group Inc., Boston)

  • Martin Wittenberg

    (DataFirst, University of Cape Town)

Abstract

While South Africa enjoys a wealth of household and firm data that speaks to the evolution of the labour market since the end of apartheid in 1994, the interpretation of these data is complicated by a variety of measurement and fieldwork changes that have occurred over this time period. These changes have been well documented by Wittenberg (2004, 2014), Casale, Muller, and Posel (2004), and Yu (2007). One of the most dramatic changes that must be considered when examining employment trends over this period is the apparent increase in self-employment that took place with the switch from the October Household Surveys (OHS) to the Labour Force Surveys (LFS). With this change in survey instrument, there was a seeming increase in the number of self-employed agricultural workers from roughly 150 000 in the last wave of the OHS (October 1999) to more than 1.4 million in the first wave of the LFS (February 2000). The number of self-employed agricultural workers (SEAWs) drops somewhat after September 2000 but remains elevated throughout all waves of the LFS compared to previous OHS waves and later Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) waves. This series, calculated using the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series (PALMS) which combines all three survey instruments—OHS, LFS, and QLFS

Suggested Citation

  • Liz Neyens & Martin Wittenberg, 2016. "Changes in self-employment in the agricultural sector, South Africa: 1994-2012," SALDRU Working Papers 173, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    • Handle: RePEc:ldr:wpaper:173
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rulof Burger & Servaas Berg & Dieter Fintel, 2015. "The Unintended Consequences of Education Policies on South African Participation and Unemployment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(1), pages 74-100, March.
    2. Derek Yu, 2007. "The comparability of the Statistics South Africa October Household Surveys and Labour Force Surveys," Working Papers 17/2007, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Serena Merrino, 2020. "Measuring labour earnings inequality in post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-32, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Jacqueline Mosomi, 2019. "Distributional changes in the gender wage gap in the post-apartheid South African labour market," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-17, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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