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Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2008, First Quarter

South Africa, 2008
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Reference ID
ZAF_2008_QLFS-Q1_v03_M
Producer(s)
Statistics South Africa
Collection(s)
DataFirst , University of Cape Town, South Africa
Metadata
Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON
Study website
Created on
Jan 27, 2012
Last modified
Sep 04, 2014
Page views
16872
Downloads
1919
  • Study Description
  • Data Description
  • Documentation
  • Get Microdata
  • Related citations
  • Identification
  • Version
  • Scope
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Sampling
  • Data Collection
  • Access policy
  • Disclaimer and copyrights
  • Metadata production

Identification

Survey ID Number
ZAF_2008_QLFS-Q1_v03_M
Title
Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2008, First Quarter
Subtitle
First Quarter
Country/Economy
Name Country code
South Africa ZAF
Study type
Labor Force Survey [hh/lfs]
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
v3.0: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
Version Date
2008-08-28
Version Notes
The current version of the QLFS data was downloaded from the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) website in April 2014. Stats SA updated the QLFS results (2008-2013) to reflect the new population benchmarks from Census 2011. Although the weighting changes are not clearly documented by Stats SA, users are advised to remain aware of these slight calibration differences when employing weights. These updates are in addition to the following changes to previous versions:

The previous version of the QLFS 2008 Q1 was downloaded from the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) website by DataFirst in January 2012. This version differs slightly from the version that was obtained by DataFirst (from Stats SA) at some undeteremined time prior. These differences are limited to changes to the way in which observations that fit into "unspecified", "not applicable" or "missing" type categories are coded for certain variables and differences in the weight variable between versions.

For the recoded variables, the differences are easiest to explain by example. In the older version of the QLFS 2008 Q1 the "Q319aODDJOBS" variable is coded 8, with the associated label "Not Specified", for 38,092 observations. In the newest version this category of responses is assigned the code 0 and is not labelled (as it was in the previous version) for the same 38,092 observations. This recoding process has been applied to most of the categorical variables in this datafile. Note that some follow a slightly different convention. For example, "Q315PREVOCCUPATION" has had values of 9999 and 9998 both recoded as zero. There are a couple of other variables for which multiple values have been redefined as zero in the updated version.

The two versions also have different weights. To DataFirst's knowledge, the weighting changes are not clearly documented by Stats SA. The most likely explanation for the difference between the two sets of weights is that the newer version is calibrated to an updated set of mid-year population estimates. Users are advised to remain aware of these slight calibration differences when employing weights.

Scope

Notes
INDIVIDUALS: labour market activity, labour preferences, labour market history, demographic characteristics, marital status, employment status, education, grants, tax.
Topics
Topic Vocabulary URI
employment [3.1] CESSDA Link
in-job training [3.2] CESSDA Link
labour relations/conflict [3.3] CESSDA Link
retirement [3.4] CESSDA Link
unemployment [3.5] CESSDA Link
working conditions [3.6] CESSDA Link
LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT [3] CESSDA Link
TRADE, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS [2] CESSDA Link
DEMOGRAPHY AND POPULATION [14] CESSDA Link

Coverage

Geographic Coverage
National coverage
Geographic Unit
Provincial and metropolitan level
Universe
The QLFS sample covers the non-institutional population except for those in 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 the school compound would, however, be excluded.

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators
Name
Statistics South Africa

Sampling

Sampling Procedure
The QLFS frame has been developed as a general purpose household survey frame that can be used by all other household surveys irrespective of the sample size requirement of the survey. The sample size for the QLFS is roughly 30 000 dwellings per quarter.

The sample is based on information collected during the 2001 Population Census conducted by Stats SA. In preparation for the 2001 Census, the country was divided into 80 787 enumeration areas (EAs). Stats SA's household-based surveys use a Master Sample of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) which comprises of EAs that are drawn from across the country.

The sample is designed to be representative at the provincial level and within provinces at the metro/non-metro level. Within the metros, the sample is further distributed by geography type. The four geography types are: urban formal, urban informal, farms and tribal. This implies, for example, that within a metropolitan area the sample is representative at the different geography types that may exist within that metro.

The current sample size is 3 080 PSUs. It is divided equally into four sub-groups or panels called rotation groups. The rotation groups are designed in such a way that each of these groups has the same distribution pattern as that which is observed in the whole sample. They are numbered from one to four and these numbers also correspond to the quarters of the year in which the sample will be rotated for the particular group.

The sample for the QLFS is based on a stratified two-stage design with probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) in the first stage, and sampling of dwelling units (DUs) with systematic sampling in the second stage.
Weighting
Stats SA updated the QLFS results (2008-2013) to reflect the new population benchmarks from Census 2011. Although the weighting changes are not clearly documented by Stats SA, users are advised to remain aware of these slight calibration differences between the previous version and the current (revised) data version when employing weights.

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection
Start End
2008-01 2008-03
Data Collection Mode
Face-to-face [f2f]

Access policy

Contacts
Name Affiliation Email URL
DataFirst University of Cape Town info@data1st.org Link
User Information Services Statistics South Africa info@statsa.gov.sa www.statsa.gov.za
World Bank Microdata Library World Bank
Access conditions
Public use files, accessible to all
Citation requirements
Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2008: Q1 [dataset]. Version 3.0. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa, 2014.
Access authority
Name Affiliation Email URL
DataFirst University of Cape Town info@data1st.org Link

Disclaimer and copyrights

Disclaimer
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.
Copyright
Copyright, Statistics South Africa

Metadata production

DDI Document ID
DDI_ZAF_2008_QLFS-Q1_v03_M
Producers
Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
Development Economics Data Group DECDG The World Bank Documentation of the DDI
Date of Metadata Production
2014-04-03
DDI Document version
Version 03 (April 2014)
This version is identical to Version 02, with revisions to data.
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