Examining the South African labour market during the COVID-19 lockdown period

This study analysed the 2020 first quarter to 2022 second quarter waves of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) data and all five waves (2020-21) of the National Income Dynamics Study - Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) data to examine the South African labour market outcomes during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The QLFS data showed that low-educated Africans aged 25-44 years and those involved in low skilled occupation categories were most vulnerable to job loss. The NIDS-CRAM data indicated that for those who still worked in February 2020, 51% worked all five waves, 14% worked in four waves and 9% worked in three waves. Only 0.5% and 1.8% turned out to be unemployed and inactive in all waves, respectively. For the February 2020 employed who lost their jobs and became unemployed in April 2020 (wave 1), 60% of them worked again but 22% remained unemployed in March 2021 (wave 5).