OVERVIEW OF KZN LABOUR MARKET â€" 3rd QUARTER 2015

LABOUR MARKET DEFINITIONS
The following definitions are of relevance and significance to the labour market.

Employed
Are persons aged between 15-64 years, during the reference week; did any work for at least one hour, or had a job or a business but were not at work (temporarily absent).

Labour force
Comprises all persons who are employed plus all persons who are unemployed.

Labour force participation rate
The labour force participation rate is the percentage of working-age persons in an economy who:
• Are employed
• Are unemployed but looking for a job

Not economically active population
Persons aged 15-64 years who are neither employed nor unemployed in the reference week.

Unemployment rate
It is the proportion of the labour force that is unemployed.

Long term unemployment
Persons in long-term unemployment are those individuals among the unemployed who are without work and trying to find a job pr start a business for one year or more.

Underutilised labour
Comprises three groups as follows: persons who are underemployed, people who are unemployed, and people who are discouraged.

Underemployment
Are employed persons who were willing and available to work additional hours, whose total number of hours actually worked during the reference period was below 35 hours per week.

Population of working age
Comprises all persons aged between15-64 

Unemployed
Persons aged 15-64 years who

• Were not employed in the reference week and;
• Actively looked for work or tried to start a business in the four week preceding the survey interview and;
• Were available for work, i.e. would have been able to start work or business in the reference week or;
• Had not actively looked for work in the past four weeks but had a job or business to start at a definite date in the future and were available.

Not Economically Active Population
The not economically active population refers to persons aged 15-64 years who are neither employed nor unemployed in the reference week. People are not economically active for different reasons, such as; they are students, homemakers, suffering from illness/disability, too old/young to work, discouraged or for other reasons.

Discouraged work seeker
A person who was not employed during the reference period, wanted work, was available to work/ to start a business but did not take active steps to find work during the last four weeks, provided that the main reason given for not seeking work was any of the following: no jobs available in the area; unable to find work requiring his/her skills;lost hope of finding any kind of work. Discouraged work seekers are either too young or too old, they have lost hope of finding a job, and they are no longer searching for work.

Click below link to download Provincial Labour Market Analysis:
Provincial Labour Market 4.15.pdf - 136 KB