Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020, Quarter 3

South Africa, 2020
DataFirst , University of Cape Town, South Africa

Statistics South Africa

Identification

Survey ID Number

ZAF_2020_QLFS-Q3_v01_M

Title

Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020, Quarter 3

Subtitle

Quarter 3

Country

Name	Country code
South Africa	ZAF

Study type

Labour Force Survey [hh/lfs]

Series Information

Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020: Q3 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2020. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2020.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/e4wk-9c69

Abstract

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.

Kind of Data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Unit of Analysis

Individuals

Version

Version Description

Version 1.0: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution

Version Date

2020-11-19

Version Notes

This version was downloaded by DataFirst on the 17th November 2020.

Scope

Notes

For Q3 2020 Statistics South Africa continued 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

Geographic Coverage

National coverage

Geographic Unit

Provincial and metropolitan level

Universe

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

Primary investigators

Name
Statistics South Africa

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

The sampling procedure for this quarter of the QLFS had to be changed from the norm due to covid-19. In this 2020 Q3 the sample used was the same sample as from 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.

Weighting

Because the survey was done telephonically, households without telephones were essentially out of scope. To account for this problem, data from Q1 were used as the benchmark to which the Q3 weights were "bias-adjusted", in terms of labour market variables (status, sector, industry and occupation) and demographic (age, race and gender) characteristics, at three geographic levels. Note that Q1 2020 was itself imputed based on Q4 2019, so those imputations from Q4 would carry forward to 2020 Q1 and in turn to 2020 Q2 and Q3.

For more details see section 4 of the statistical release and the metadata document.

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End
2020-04	2020-06

Data Collection Mode

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]

Data Collection Notes

This QLFS used Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) instead of face-to-face interviews because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Questionnaires

The survey questionnaire consists of five section:
Section 1: Biographical information (marital status, language, migration, education, training, literacy, etc.)
Section 2: Economic activities for persons aged 15 years and older
Section 3: Unemployment and economic inactivity for persons aged 15 years and older
Section 4: Main work activities in the last week for persons aged 15 years and older
Section 5: Earnings in the main job for employees, employers and own-account workers aged 15 years and older

Data Appraisal

COVID 19 Affected data collection for QLFS 2020 Q3. Please see the data collection and sampling sections for more on this and consult the statistical release for further information.

Note that Q1 2020 was itself imputed based on Q4 2019, so those imputations from Q4 would carry forward to 2020 Q1 and in turn to 2020 Q2 and Q3.

Access policy

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
DataFirst	University of Cape Town	support@data1st.org	http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email
DataFirst Helpdesk	University of Cape Town	support@data1st.org

Access conditions

Public use files, available to all

Citation requirements

Metadata production

DDI Document ID

DDI_ZAF_2020_QLFS-Q3_v01_M

Producers

Name	Affiliation	Role
DataFirst	University of Cape Town	DDI Producer

Date of Metadata Production

2021-01-11

DDI Document version

Version 02: This metadata was downloaded from DataFirst Open Data Portal (https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/central). The following two metadata information have been edited – Document and Survey ID.

Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2020, Quarter 3

South Africa, 2020 DataFirst , University of Cape Town, South Africa

Identification

Version

Scope

Coverage

Producers and sponsors

Sampling

Data Collection

Questionnaires

Data Appraisal

Access policy

Metadata production

South Africa, 2020
DataFirst , University of Cape Town, South Africa