Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2009
South Africa, 2009
Get MicrodataIdentification
ZAF_2009_QLFS-Q4_v03_M
Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2009
Fourth Quarter
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | ZAF |
Labor Force Survey [hh/lfs]
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
v3.0: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
2014-04-07
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 the previous versions:
The previous version of the QLFS 2009 Q4 was downloaded from the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) website by DataFirst in January 2012. It is difficult to examine if there are any notable differences between the version downloaded by DataFirst at this time any previously obtained versions. This is because the unique household numbers of the QLFS 2009 Q4 were destringed into doubles in these older versions. This reduced the precision of these unique numbers which led to the erroneous grouping of individual respondents from separate households into single ones. As a result, this is the only discernible difference between versions. The inability to uniquely identify individuals in the older version of the datafile also makes in-depth comparison between versions of the values of the other variables impossible.
There are, however, some minor observable differences in variable names which are capitalised differently betwen versions for certain variables. Furthermore, the mean value for the weight variable differs between datafiles. This suggests that there was some substantive change in weights at some stage between version downloads. To DataFirst's knowledge, these 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
INDIVIDUALS: labour market activity, labour preferences, labour market history, demographic characteristics, marital status, employment status, education, grants, tax.
| Topic | Vocabulary | URI |
|---|---|---|
| employment [3.1] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| in-job training [3.2] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| labour relations/conflict [3.3] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| retirement [3.4] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| unemployment [3.5] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| working conditions [3.6] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT [3] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| TRADE, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS [2] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
| DEMOGRAPHY AND POPULATION [14] | CESSDA | http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common |
Coverage
National coverage
Provincial and metropolitan level
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
| Name |
|---|
| Statistics South Africa |
Sampling
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.
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
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2009-10 | 2009-12 |
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za | info@data1st.org |
Public use files, accessible to all
Statistics South Africa. Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2009: Q4 [dataset]. Version 3.0. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2014.
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.
Copyright, Statistics South Africa
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | info@data1st.org | http://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za |
| User Information Services | Statistics South Africa | info@statsa.gov.sa | www.statsa.gov.za |
| World Bank Microdata Library | World Bank |
Metadata production
DDI_ZAF_2009_QLFS-Q4_v03_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | DDI Producer |
2014-04-07
Metadata version
Version 3 (April 2014) - Adapted version of the DDI "DDI-ZAF-DATAFIRST-QLFS-2009-Q4-V2" received from Data First.