IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/sajeco/v72y2004i5p1003-1022.html

The Mystery Of South Africa'S Ghost Workers In 1996: Measurement And Mismeasurement In The Manufacturing Census, Population Census And October Household Surveys

Author

Listed:
  • MARTIN WITTENBERG

Abstract

This paper compares estimates of total manufacturing employment from South Africa's 1996 manufacturing census, the 1996 population census and the October Household Surveys from 1995, 1996 and 1997. Findings show that there are 300 000 too few manufacturing workers recorded in the 1996 population census. Furthermore there are other inconsistencies between these data sources. Several possible explanations for the deficit in manufacturing workers are put forward, but none are compelling. It is concluded that aggregate employment series constructed from household surveys should be treated with caution.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Wittenberg, 2004. "The Mystery Of South Africa'S Ghost Workers In 1996: Measurement And Mismeasurement In The Manufacturing Census, Population Census And October Household Surveys," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(5), pages 1003-1022, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:sajeco:v:72:y:2004:i:5:p:1003-1022
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2004.tb00142.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2004.tb00142.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2004.tb00142.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Klasen & Ingrid Woolard, 1999. "Levels, trends and consistency of employment and unemployment figures in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 3-35.
    2. Haroon Bhorat, 2003. "The Post-Apartheid Challenge: Labour Demand Trends in the South African Labour Market, 1995-1999," Working Papers 03082, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    3. Stephan Klasen & Ingrid Woolard, 2009. "Surviving Unemployment Without State Support: Unemployment and Household Formation in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-51, January.
    4. Conradie, Beatrice, 2005. "Wages and wage elasticities for wine and table grapes in South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 44(01), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:484770 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Morné Oosthuizen, 2014. "Poverty, Inequality, and Prices in Post-Apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Wittenberg, Martin., 2014. "Analysis of employment, real wage, and productivity trends in South Africa since 1994," ILO Working Papers 994847703402676, International Labour Organization.
    4. Finn, Arden & Leibbrandt, Murray & Oosthuizen, Morne, 2014. "Poverty, inequality, and prices in post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Andrew Kerr & Bruce McDougall, 2020. "What is a firm census in a developing country? An answer from Ghana," SALDRU Working Papers 262, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    6. Reza C. Daniels, 2012. "A Framework for Investigating Micro Data Quality, with Application to South African Labour Market Household Surveys," SALDRU Working Papers 90, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:rza:wpaper:46 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Farah Pirouz, 2005. "Have Labour Market Outcomes Affected Household Structure in South Africa? A Descriptive Analysis of Households," Working Papers 05100, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    3. Mich Brookes & Timothy Hinks, 2004. "The Racial Employment Gap In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(3), pages 573-580, September.
    4. Rulof Burger & Ingrid Woolard, 2005. "The State of the Labour Market in South Africa after the First Decade of Democracy," SALDRU/CSSR Working Papers 133, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    5. Miriam Altman, 2001. "Employment promotion in a minerals economy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(6), pages 691-709.
    6. Pa Black, 2004. "Poverty At The Household Level," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(3), pages 413-436, September.
    7. Kristin F. Butcher & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2001. "Wage Effects of Unions and Industrial Councils in South Africa," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(2), pages 349-374, January.
    8. von Fintel, Dieter & Pienaar, Louw, 2016. "Small-Scale Farming and Food Security: The Enabling Role of Cash Transfers in South Africa's Former Homelands," IZA Discussion Papers 10377, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Vimal Ranchhod, 2017. "Household responses to the cessation of grant income: The case of South Africa's Old Age Pension," SALDRU Working Papers 213, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    10. Geeta G. Kingdon & John B. Knight, 2000. "Are searching and non-searching unemployment distinct states when unemployment is high? The case of South Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2000-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    11. Louw Pienaar & Dieter von Fintel, 2013. "Hunger in the former apartheid homelands: Determinants of converging food security 100 years after the 1913 Land Act," Working Papers 26/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    12. Pienaar, L. & Fintel, D. von, 2015. "Hunger in the former apartheid homelands: Determinants of convergence one century after the 1913 land act," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 53(4), March.
    13. Marisa Coetzee, 2013. "Finding the Benefits: Estimating the Impact of The South African Child Support Grant," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(3), pages 427-450, September.
    14. Haroon Bhorat & Tara Caetano & Benjamin Jourdan & Ravi Kanbur & Christopher Rooney & Benjamin Stanwix & Ingrid Woolard, 2016. "Investigating the Feasibility of a National Minimum Wage for South Africa," Working Papers 201601, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    15. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & Guirkinger, Catherine, 2019. "The dynamics of family systems: lessons from past and present times," CEPR Discussion Papers 13570, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    16. Thirtle, Colin G. & Piesse, Jenifer & Gouse, Marnus, 2005. "Agricultural technology, productivity and employment: Policies for poverty reduction," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 44(01), pages 1-23, March.
    17. Pieter Serneels, 2004. "The Nature of Unemployment in Urban Ethiopia," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    18. Gaëlle Pierre & Stefano Scarpetta, 2004. "How Labor Market Policies Can Combine Workers' Protection and Job Creation : A Partial Review of Some Key Issues and Policy Options," World Bank Publications - Reports 9130, The World Bank Group.
    19. Posel, Dorrit & Oyenubi, Adeola, 2023. "Heterogeneous gender gaps in mental wellbeing: Do women with low economic status face the biggest gender gaps?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    20. Marlies Piek & Dieter von Fintel, 2020. "Sectoral minimum wages in South Africa: Disemployment by firm size and trade exposure," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 462-482, May.
    21. Ingrid Woolard & Stephan Klasen, 2005. "Determinants of Income Mobility and Household Poverty Dynamics in South Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 865-897.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:sajeco:v:72:y:2004:i:5:p:1003-1022. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/essaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.