Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2021
South Africa, 2021
Get MicrodataIdentification
zaf-statssa-lmdsa-2021-v2
Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2021
LMDSA 2021
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
Labour Force Survey
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA). It collects data on the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 years or older who live in South Africa. Since 2008, StatsSA have produced an annual dataset based on the QLFS data, "Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa". The dataset is constructed using data from all all four QLFS datasets in the year. The dataset also includes a number of variables (including income) that are not available in any of the QLFS datasets from 2010.
Survey data
Individuals
Version
v2: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
2025
Version 1 of Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2021 was downloaded from Statistics South Africa's data site on 30 August 2023. Version 1 was missing variables. Version 2 was provided to DataFirst by Statistics South Africa on 28 March 2025. Version 2 contains the missing variables, which are:
Q52SALARYINTERVAL
Q54SALARYWAGE
Q56SALARYINTERVAL
Q57SALARYWAGE
Q58SALARYCATEGORY
MONTHLY_AMOUNT
SURVEYDATE
Scope
Individuals: labour market activity, labour preferences, labour market history, demographic characteristics, marital status, employment status, education, grants, tax, income.
Coverage
The survey had national coverage.
The lowest level of geographic aggregation is Province
The QLFS sample covers the non-institutional population but includes workers' hostels. However, persons living in private dwelling units within institutions are enumerated. For example, within a school compound, one would enumerate the schoolmaster's house and teachers' accommodation because these are private dwellings. Students living in a dormitory on a school compound would, however, be excluded.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Statistics South Africa |
Sampling
Each year the LMDSA is created by combining the QLFS waves for that year and then including some additional variables. The QLFS master frame for this LMDSA was based on the 2011 population census by Stas SA. The sampling is stratified by province, district, and geographic type (urban, traditional, farm). There are 3324 PSUs drawn each year, using probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling. In the second stage Dwelling Units (DUs) are systematically selected from PSUs. The 3324 PSU are split into four groups for the year, and at each quarter the DUs from the given group are replaced by substitute DUs from the same PSU or the next PSU on the list (in the same group). It should be noted that the sampling unit is the dwelling, and the unit of observation is the household. Therefore, if a household moves out of a dwelling after being in the sample for, two quarters and a new household moves in, the new household will be enumerated for two more quarters until the DU is rotated out. If no household moves into the sampled dwelling, the dwelling will be classified as vacant (or unoccupied).
The sampling weights for the data collected from the sampled households are constructed in such a manner that the responses could be properly expanded to represent the entire civilian population of South Africa. The weights are the result of calculations involving several factors, including original selection probabilities, adjustment for non-response, and benchmarking to known population estimates from the Demography division of Stats SA. For more information see the metadata document. It appears as though Stats SA also calculated panel weights for the households that were repeatedly sampled across quarters. These are not released with this version of the LMDSA. Weighting adjustments were used for household non-response.
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2021-01 | 2021-12 |
- Computer Assisted Telephone Interview
Stats SA suspended face-to-face data collection for all its surveys on 19 March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restricted movement. This was to ensure that the field staff and respondents were not exposed to the risk of contracting coronavirus and to contain its spread. It is, however, imperative that Stats SA continue to provide statistics on the South African labour market. In this regard, Stats SA changed the mode of collection for collecting QLFS data to Computer-assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) throughout 2021.
Data appraisal
The statistical release notes that missing values were "generally imputed" for item non-response but provides no detail on how Statistics SA did so.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | support.data1st.org | support@data1st.org |
Public access data for use under a Creative Commons CC-BY (Attribution-only) License
Statistics South Africa. Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa 2021 [dataset]. Version 2. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2025. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/D6G4-SR43
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Support | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org | www.support.data1st.org |
Metadata production
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
2025-04-23
Metadata version
Version 2