The primary source of employment data in South Africa is Statistics SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS, Statistical Release P0211), which is a survey of the labour market activities of a sample of individuals aged between 15 and 64 years. QLFS data is subject to many deficiencies. The survey results are released between 4 and 6 weeks after the end of each quarter, with the result that the data are a belated guide to underlying economic and employment trends.
Due to small sample sizes, many of the survey results are unreliable. For example, estimates of total employment have a confidence value of just 34%, and four out of nine provinces have confidence values below 40%. Additionally, Statistics SA data are not adequately representative of non-traditional employment types, such as contract and temporary employment amounting to approximately 0.9 million employees.
Adcorp, South Africa’s largest diversified employment services company, possesses many rich sources of fine-grained data, both within the group (permanent and temporary placements, job search times, work applications, etc.) and from industries and sectors in which the group operates (skills development levies, unemployment insurance claims, labour relations cases, etc.). Although Adcorp is not fully representative of the South African economy, Adcorp’s data is readily available (in most cases with no material delays in data collection) and reliable (using population measures rather than sample survey methodologies).
The Adcorp Employment Index is calculated based on a monthly frequency, whereas Statistics SA’s most reliable employment aggregates are only available quarterly. Moreover, comprising a relatively high proportion of temporary, part-time and other “atypical” employment types, Adcorp data tends to have a leading-indicator relationship with broader employment.
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