South Africa (3)

Title of the survey

Labour Statistics: Employment, Salaries and Wages - Public Sector.

Organization responsible

Central Statistical Service (CSS)

Periodicity of the survey

Quarterly.

Objectives of the survey

The survey results are used for manpower planning and social and demographic analyses. They constitute an input for the monitoring of the Reconstruction and Development Programme.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings, hours of work and compensation of employees. Data are also collected on the number of vacancies.

Reference period

Employment and vacancies: the last pay day of the quarter. Earnings: the whole quarter. Hours of work: hours normally worked per week during the quarter.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country, including Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (TBVS States) since April 1994.

Industrial

The public sector, which covers: central government and provincial administrations; local authorities; parastatal institutions and public corporations; control boards; universities, technikons and technical colleges; and the civil services of the former self-governing territories.

Establishments

All public sector institutions, corporations and establishments.

Persons

All officials and employees. The President and Deputy-Presidents, Ministers and members of the Senate, Parliament, National Assembly and Constitutional Assembly, the Premiers and members of the Executive Council of the provinces, and part-time members of boards and commissions of public corporations, universities, etc., are excluded.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

All paid officials and workers present on the payroll on the last pay day of the quarter, including workers on holiday or sick leave, and those absent on short military service in the Citizen Force and Commando. They comprise all officials and workers included in staff expenditures; all officials and workers, irrespective of whether their wages and salaries are paid from revenue, capital or any other account or fund; and seasonal and casual workers, irrespective of the nature and place of employment. The following categories of employees are identified separately:

full-time workers (permanent and temporary), i.e. workers who normally work 35 hours or more per week;
part-time workers, of whom:
- workers in morning posts, i.e. workers who normally work more than 20 hours but less than 30 hours per week; and
- other part-time workers, who normally work 20 hours or less per week.

Earnings

Data are collected on total gross wages and salaries paid for the quarter to all employees and officials, without any distinction as to category of employee. Total gross wages and salaries include ordinary time and overtime earnings, area allowances and remuneration paid to workers out of income, capital and other accounts and funds; and fringe benefits paid in cash such as housing, mortgage and rent subsidies and transport allowances. They also include employers' contributions in accordance with any law applicable to workers (but exclude employers' contributions to pensions, provident and assimilated funds - see below). Excluded from wages and salaries are travel and subsistence allowances; service bonuses (e.g. long-service or retirement bonuses); leave gratuities; concessions; allowances paid to private persons who are members of councils, committees and commissions; and payments in kind, such as free meals, lodging, low interest loans, and the use of company cars; and employers' contribution to pension, provident, holiday, medical aid, sick pay and other funds (e.g. the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Workmen's Compensation Fund). In addition to total gross wages and salaries, data are collected on bonuses paid during the quarter to all employees and officials, without any distinction as to employee category. These include leave, Christmas and other bonuses, thirteenth month payment, cost-of-living allowances, commission, incentive bonuses, tool and other similar allowances, as well as employers' contributions to holiday funds. Employers' contributions to pension, provident, holiday, medical aid, sick pay and other funds (e.g. the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Workmen's Compensation Fund) are collected separately for all employees and officials.

Wage/salary rates

Not relevant.

Hours of work

Data are collected on hours normally worked per person per week (excluding overtime hours), for each employee category mentioned under Employment. Data on employment, total wages and salaries, hours normally worked, bonuses and employers' contributions to pension, provident and similar funds are collected according to population group (Asians, Coloureds, Whites and Blacks, and an unspecified category since March 1993).

International recommendations

The definition of gross wages and salaries used in this survey differs from that of earnings contained in the international recommendations in two main areas: payments in kind are excluded from wages and salaries, and certain employers' contributions to legal or statutory funds and schemes are included. It falls short of the definition of compensation of employees contained in the System of National Accounts (SNA), 1968 in that it does not cover all the components of this measure, such as wage payments in kind, free housing and welfare services, nor does it refer to a long accounting period. The definition of hours normally worked corresponds to that of normal hours of work contained in the international recommendations.

Classifications

Industrial

The Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic activities fifth edition, January 1993 is used. It is linked to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev.3, 1990 at the sub-group level.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

The survey data are also classified by employee category and population group.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The statistical unit is the institution, administration or establishment in the public sector.

Survey universe / sample frame

The register of all public sector establishments: state departments, control boards, parastatal institutions and public corporations, parastatal government, provincial administrations, universities, technikons and colleges, civil services of the former self-governing territories, and local authorities. The universe consists of 1,282 establishments, institutions and administrations.

Sample design

The survey is a complete enumeration of all public sector establishments, except for local authorities, for which the sampling method is as follows: Local authorities are first stratified according to size (large or small) on the basis of the number of workers. A stratified systematic sample is then taken from the larger local authorities, and 25 per cent of the small local authorities are sampled every quarter on a rotating basis over the year.

Field work

Data collection

The survey is conducted by post and respondents are required to return the completed questionnaires not later than the 7th of the month following the last month of the quarter. Data collection is under the responsibility of the head office of the CSS in Pretoria, assisted by nine branch offices. Follow-up and editing are carried out by the permanent staff of the CSS.

Survey questionnaire

Separate questionnaires are used for each group of institutions, administrations and establishments. They follow the same structure and format. Each questionnaire comprises an English version and an Afrikaans version. It consists of four Parts:

Part 1 covers employment by employee category and population group;
Part 2 covers hours normally worked, by employee category and population group;
Part 3 covers separately total gross wages and salaries, total bonuses for all workers, and employers' contributions to pension, provident and assimilated funds, for all workers and by population group;
Part 4 covers the total number of vacancies on the last pay day the quarter.

The questionnaire also contains explanatory notes and definitions, elements to be included or excluded, and notes on the submission of returns and the confidentiality of data.

Substitution of sampling units

Not relevant.

Data processing and editing

Data are processed by computer. Printed field numbers on the questionnaires identify the different variables. The current quarter's returns are first compared with the previous quarter's and then machine edited. Cross checks and consistency checks are built into each edit programme, and in the case of inconsistent data the establishment is contacted by telephone or fax..

Types of estimates

Employment and earnings: totals and monthly averages. Employment is estimated in two ways: total number of persons employed (full-time and part-time workers) and total number of full-time equivalent persons. Data on hours normally worked are used in this conversion. Average wages and salaries are calculated by dividing the total wages and salaries by the number of full-time equivalent workers. Average wages and salaries are also calculated at constant 1990 prices, by deflating the average wages and salaries at current prices using the Consumer Price Index for the higher income group for Whites, that for the middle income group for Coloureds and Asians, that for the lower income group for Blacks, and that for all income groups for the unspecified category.

Construction of indices

Index numbers are not constructed.

Weighting of sample results

Not relevant.

Adjustments

Non-response

A duplicate from the previous quarter is used and adjusted when the data become available.

Other bias

No adjustments are made for any other bias.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Seasonal variations

The earnings data are seasonally adjusted using the X-11 procedure. They are published separately.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

Complete.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not relevant.

Non-response rate

Not relevant.

Non-sampling errors

Every effort is made to reduce non-sampling errors to a minimum by the careful design of questionnaires and instructions and efficient processing procedures.

Conformity with other sources

The Public Service Commission (a regulating body for State administration) monitors the figures each quarter.

Available series

The published tables include:

total employment at the end of each quarter, by main department, institution or establishment, by employee category and population group;
total wages, salaries and bonuses for each quarter, by main department, institution or establishment and population group;
average wages and salaries per month, by main department, institution or establishment and population group, at current and at constant 1990 prices; and
number of vacancies by sector.

History of the survey

The survey was introduced in the 1950s and since then has been conducted on a regular basis. In 1987, the questionnaires were revised to permit the calculation of full-time equivalent workers. The calculation of seasonally adjusted earnings data started in 1992. As from January 1993, the results have been classified using the SIC, fifth edition, 1993. In January 1995, the survey on local authorities was extended to include the former TBVC States.

Documentation

Central Statistical Service: South African Statistics (annual, Pretoria). idem: South African Labour Statistics (annual, ibid.). idem: Statistical Release P0251 (quarterly, ibid.); published some three months after the most recent month for which data are available. idem: Bulletin of Statistics (quarterly, ibid.). All publications contain methodological notes. Published data can also be made available on diskette and magnetic tape, upon request.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

Not relevant.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Data on paid employment by major division of economic activity are published in Table 3B of the Year Book of Labour Statistics. Data on average monthly earnings in the public sector (part of ISIC major division 9) are stored in the database of the ILO Bureau of Statistics.