Abstract

The informal workforce constitutes over half of the total workforce in most developing countries, with the percentage reaching approximately 68.5% in South Africa. This category encompasses self-employed individuals in informal enterprises and wage workers in informal jobs. The labour market in South Africa has faced multiple pressures, including escalating youth unemployment, rapid urbanization, heightened migration in economically advanced provinces, and persistent financial crises. Collectively, these factors have driven the growth of the informal sector during periods of economic instability. From a socio-demographic standpoint, this study examined the structural shifts affecting informal employment. Specifically, it evaluated how socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and education related to work in the informal sector. Moreover, this research adopted a comparative approach, assessing how these variables brought about changes in informal sector employment between 2017 and 2020. The following central research question drove this study: How have socio-demographic structural changes affected employment in the informal sector between 2017 and 2024? Employing a cross-sectional design, the study analyzed data from 2017 to 2024 to compare trends in everyday jobs. The data source for this research was the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).