Labour force participation among African female migrants in South Africa: the case of Gauteng province
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Date
2023
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
The African female migration theme has several dynamic components and characteristics that have not been fully explored. In the South African context, the influence of the labour force participation among African female migrants in Gauteng province, is one such case. African female migrants frequently migrate to South Africa’s Gauteng province in search of better opportunities. Many are forced to migrate due to a lack of employment opportunities in their home countries. This study used secondary data from the 2001 and 2011 Population Censuses obtained from Statistics South Africa. The study focused on socio-demographic, socio-economic, and migration aspects such as age group, marital status, level of education, employment status, level of income, occupation, type of sector, reasons for not working, country of birth and year of movement. Firstly, the method of analysis includes univariate analysis, using graphs to display the characteristics of African female migrants. Secondly, bivariate analysis uses cross-tabulation and the Chi-square test of Independence to determine the relationship between two variables, and lastly multivariate analysis, which incorporated the multinomial logistic regression technique to estimate the odds ratio of the dependent variables. The analysis was performed using the SPSS version 28. The findings reveal that majority of female migrants working in Gauteng province came from Zimbabwe. Based on the study’s findings, most of the African female migrants who participated in labour force were employed in the Gauteng province, many were not married and that most of the African female migrants had completed secondary education. Furthermore, the results revealed that the greatest number of African female migrants worked mainly in the informal sector as domestic workers or related helpers. Moreover, the study reveals that age group, marital status, level of education, employment status and level of income are the main contributing factors to labour force participation in Gauteng province. Since most African female migrants are working in the informal sector in Gauteng province, the government should enforce regulations that protect migrant workers. The government should also encourage the feminisation of migration, which will increase women’s empowerment and involvement in economic growth.
Description
Magister Philosophiae - MPhil
Keywords
African female migrants, Informal sector, Country of birth, Feminisation, Occupation