Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020, Quarter 4
South Africa, 2020
Get MicrodataIdentification
ZAF_2020_QLFS-Q4_v01_M
Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020
Quarter 4
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | ZAF |
Labor Force Survey [hh/lfs]
Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020: Q4 [dataset]. Version 2. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2021. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2021.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is a household-based sample survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). It collects data on the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 years or older who live in South Africa.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Individuals
Version
Version 02: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
2020-03-28
Version 1 was accessed by DataFirst on the 22nd of March 2021. It didn't contain covid variables.
Version 2 was received by DataFirst from Stats SA on the 16th of July 2021. It contains the 9 covid variables and is otherwise the same as version 1.
Scope
For Q4 2020 Statistics South Africa contiued to use Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing, in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This meant that households without telephones were out of scope. See the statistical release for more information.
INDIVIDUALS: labour market activity, labour preferences, labour market history, demographic characteristics, marital status, employment status, education, grants, tax.
Coverage
National coverage
Provincial and metropolitan level
The QLFS sample covers the non-institutional population of South Africa with one exception. The only institutional subpopulation included in the QLFS sample are individuals in worker's hostels. Persons living in private dwelling units within institutions are also 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 the school compound would, however, be excluded.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Statistics South Africa |
Sampling
The sampling procedure for this quarter of the QLFS had to be changed from the norm due to covid-19. In this 2020 Q4 the sample used was the same sample as from Q3, Q2 and Q1 from 2020. Because the interviews were done telephonically, any sampling units that did not have telephones dropped out of the sample. This was adjusted for in the weighting procedure.
Because the survey was done via telephone, households without telephones were essentially out of scope. To account for this problem, weights were "bias-adjusted" by Statistics South Africa. There was also significant imputation done to try and make the data more representative, despite covid.
For more details see section 4 of the statical release and the metadata document.
Survey instrument
The survey questionnaire consists of the following sections:
- Biographical information (marital status, education, etc.)
- Economic activities in the last week for persons aged 15 years and older
- Unemployment and economic inactivity for persons aged 15 years and above
- Main work activity in the last week for persons aged 15 years and above
- Earnings in the main job for employees, employers and own-account workers aged 15 years and above
From 2010 the income data collected by South Africa's Quarterly Labour Force Survey is no longer provided in the QLFS dataset (except for a brief return in QLFS 2010 Q3 which may be an error). Possibly because the data is unreliable at the level of the quarter, Statistics South Africa now provides the income data from the QLFS in an annualised dataset called Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa (LMDSA). The datasets for LMDSA are available from DataFirst's website.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2020-10 | 2020-12 |
This QLFS used Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) instead of face-to-face interviews because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Data processing
In general, imputation was used for item non-response (i.e., blanks within the questionnaire) and edit failures (i.e., invalid or inconsistent responses).
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za | support@data1st.org |
CC-BY attribution-only license
Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020: Q4 [dataset]. Version 2. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2021. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2021.
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Helpdesk | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org |
Metadata production
DDI_ZAF_2020_QLFS-Q4_v01_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | DDI Producer |
| Development Economics Data Group | The World Bank | Metadata adapted for Microdata Library |
2021-07-30
Metadata version
Version 01: This metadata was downloaded from DataFirst website(https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/central). The following two metadata information has been edited – Document and Survey ID.