Revision to Stats SA employment questionnaire reveals data changes

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has revealed labour under-utilisation is a major concern in the labour market, as the Pretoria-based stats agency revises its jobs questionnaire.

Stats SA released its latest data on Tuesday, introducing a new component to the unemployment figures to adhere to the most recent international labour statistics standards.

Some of the changes address recent concerns raised by former Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie about Stats SA’s previous model - which he believes overstated job numbers.

The official unemployment rate has dipped to 31.9% in the three months through September, coming down from 33.2%.

With the new changes, the expanded rate, which included people discouraged from job seeking, has also been revised.

Stats SA said these updates are part of ongoing efforts to ensure that South Africa’s labour statistics remain relevant and internationally comparable.

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While these revisions strengthen how certain aspects of the labour market are captured, Stats SA’s Solly Molayi said they do not affect the measurement or definition of employment and unemployment.

“So, the first indicator is the normal unemployment rate. The second one, we're just taking into account those who are working, but they're saying to us, we actually are available to work even more hours. The third one, we're looking at the potential labour force.

“And the reason why the potential labour force, because these are the potential employees or employers that can actually be part of your labour force, to say those who are available and those who are not available, but they're seeking.”

The new indicator is known as the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force – which includes the official unemployment rate, available to work but discouraged or have other reasons for not searching and unavailable jobseekers.

The combined rate sits at 42.4%.

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