Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2024
South Africa, 2024
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zaf-statssa-lmdsa-2024-v1
Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2024
LMDSA 2024
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
Labour Force Survey
| Type | Identifier |
|---|---|
| DOI | 10.25828/byqs-k618 |
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa that collects data on the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 years or older who live in South Africa. Since 2008, Statistics SA has produced an annual dataset based on the QLFS data, Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa (LMDSA). The LMDSA 2024 is constructed using data from all four QLFS collected in 2024. The data also includes several variables (including income) that are not available in any of the QLFS datasets since 2010.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Individuals
Version
v1: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
2026
Version 1 was originally downloaded from Stats SA on June 26 2026
Coverage
The survey had national coverage.
The lowest level of geographic aggregation is Province.
The QLFS sample covers the non-institutional population, except for workers' hostels. Persons living in private dwelling units within institutions are also included in the enumeration. For example, within a school compound, one would enumerate the schoolmaster's house and the teachers' accommodation, as these are private dwellings. Students living in a dormitory on the school compound would, however, be excluded.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa |
Study authorization
1999;2024
| Agency name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA |
Data collection by organs of state in South Africa is authorised by the Statistics Act, 1999, and the Statistics Amendment Act, 2024
Sampling
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) uses the 2013 Master Sample, which was developed from the 2011 Population Census as a general-purpose sampling frame for household surveys conducted by Statistics South Africa. The sampling frame is based on 103,576 census enumeration areas (EAs), which were aggregated into 3,324 primary sampling units (PSUs). This represented an 8% increase from the previous 2008 Master Sample to improve the precision of survey estimates by reducing sampling variability. The Master Sample includes approximately 33,000 dwelling units and is designed to produce representative estimates at the national, provincial, metropolitan/non-metropolitan, and geographic-type (urban, tribal, and farm) levels.
The QLFS employs a stratified two-stage sampling design. In the first stage, PSUs are selected using probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling, while in the second stage, dwelling units are selected systematically within each sampled PSU. To support the survey's rotating panel design, the Master Sample is divided equally into four rotation groups, each reflecting the same distribution as the full sample. One rotation group is replaced each quarter, allowing the survey to balance continuity for labour market analysis with the introduction of new households over time.
Please refer to Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa Metadata 2024 (lmdsa-2024-metadata) for more information on sampling.
The sample weights were constructed in order to account for the following: the original selection probabilities (design weights); adjustments for PSUs that were sub-sampled or segmented; excluded population from the sampling frame (EAs with insufficient DUs); non-response; weight trimming; benchmarking to known population estimates from the Demographic Analysis Chief Directorate within Stats SA; and raking to bias-adjusted control estimates from a Bias Adjustment procedure to compensate for the non-coverage bias in the sample due to only observing those households that can be contacted by telephone. Please refer to Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa Metadata 2024 (lmdsa-2024-metadata) for more information on weights.
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024 |
Cross-section [cross section]
| Start date | End date |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | December 2024 |
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA |
Access policy
DataFirst Dataportal
Statistics South Africa website
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://support.data1st.org/ | support@data1st.org |
Creative Commons Attribution only CC-BY license.
Statistics South Africa. Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2024 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2026. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/byqs-k618
Users of the data must send DataFirst a copy of or link to any publication based on the data
Metadata production
zaf-statssa-lmdsa-2024-v1
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town |
Metadata producer |
2026-07
Metadata version
Version 1