If the person did not fall in one of these categories, they were to be considered not working and were required to answer the following question on the reason for not working. The following response options were listed and no additional definitions or prompts were provided:

• Unemployed and looking for work
• Unemployed, not looking for work, but would accept work
• Housewife/home-maker
• Child not yet scholar
• Scholar/full-time student
• Pensioner/retired person
• Disabled person
• Not wishing to work
• None of the above

There are few ‘Unspecified’ codes as, in most cases, coders followed the instructions to allocate codes of ‘No’ (Not working) and ‘None of the above’ where no information related to employment was provided.
Stats SA has developed two definitions of unemployment for use in household surveys – a strict and an expanded definition. The strict definition is the official definition. The two definitions differ in the requirements for people to be actively looking for work and available to start work. It is not possible to replicate either definition in the census as the information obtained does not include sufficient detail. However, the first category of unemployed (‘Unemployed and looking for work’) is roughly equivalent to the expanded definition of unemployment used for other surveys. The second category of unemployed (‘Unemployed, not looking for work, but would accept work’), despite the inclusion of the word ‘unemployed’, was treated as not economically active as it does not include the requirement that the person be looking for work. As such, it has been renamed ‘Not working – not looking for work’ in the dataset to ensure it is treated correctly in analysis.
While all persons aged 5 years and older were asked the questions on employment, the final census file includes only the data for persons aged 15 years and older. As a result, the category of ‘Child not yet scholar’ was set to ‘Unspecified’ as it is not applicable to persons aged over 15. Information on child labour will be available from the Child Labour Survey to be conducted by Stats SA in early 1999.

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older on household and personal questionnaires

Final code list
01 Employed
02 Unemployed, looking for work
03 Not working – not looking for work
04 Not working – housewife/home-maker
06 Not working – scholar/full-time student
07 Not working – pensioner/retired person
08 Not working – disabled person
09 Not working – not wishing to work
10 Not working – none of the above
99 Unspecified
97 N/A: Aged <15
98 N/A: Institution

Notes for users
This question was asked only in respect of those people who were working i.e. with employment status of ‘Employed’ (see Employment Status).
There was no definition of ‘full-time’ or ‘part-time’ provided on the census questionnaire or to interviewers. Thus, respondents may have interpreted the terms differently. This should be remembered in analysing the data.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q19.1 Does (the person) carry out this activity full-time or part-time? (pre-coded)
Personal questionnaire: Q19.1 Does this person carry out this activity full-time or part-time? (pre-coded)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were working (household and personal questionnaires only)

Final code list
1 Full-time
2 Part-time
9 Unspecified
7 N/A: Age <15 or not employed
8 N/A: Institution

Notes for users
Work status refers to whether a person is an employee, an employer, self-employed and working alone, or works in a family business.
This question asked for the best description of the person’s ‘activities or work status’. The following options were provided:

• Works for him-/herself without employing anyone else (self-employed)
• Works for him-/herself and employs other people (employer)
• Works for an organisation or someone else (employee)
• Works in family business

The category ‘Works in family business’ could overlap with other responses. It was up to the respondent to decide which was appropriate.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q19.2 How can one best describe (the person’s) activities or work status? (pre-coded)
Personal questionnaire: Q19.2 How can one best describe this person’s activities or work status? (pre-coded)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were working (household and personal questionnaires only)

Final code list
1 Self-employed
2 Employer
3 Employee
4 Works in family business
9 Unspecified
7 N/A: Age <15 or not employed
8 N/A: Institution

Notes for users
This question was only asked in respect of people who were employed (See Employment status).
Two questions were asked to assist in accurately coding each person’s occupation. The first asked for the name of the occupation and gave the following list of examples: ‘plumber, street trader, cattle farmer, primary school teacher, domestic worker’. The second asked for more detail on the person’s main duty/activity and gave the examples of ‘installing pipes in new houses, selling fruit and vegetables, breeding cattle, teaching primary school children, cooking and cleaning’.
Coding was done using a code list of occupations based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 88). Originally coding was done to four-digit level but problems with the quality of coding and the fact that many categories had extremely small numbers meant that the data will only be released at three-digit level. Recodes will be available to provide data at one- or two-digit level which should be sufficient for most purposes.
The category ‘Elementary’ was formerly termed ‘Unskilled’ and can be understood as routine production work.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q19.3/4 Focus on the occupation of (the person). What would you call this occupation? Describe (the person’s) main duty/activity in more detail. (write in)
Personal questionnaire: Q19.3/4 Focus on the occupation of this person. What would you call this occupation? Describe this person’s main duty/activity in more detail. (write in)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were employed (household and personal questionnaires only)

Notes for users
Industry refers to the economic sector in which the person works. The question was only asked in respect of people who were employed (see Employment status).
The classification used for coding was based on the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC) 1993. Coding was done to the three-digit level but will only be released at the two-digit level due to the very small numbers in some three-digit categories.
Coding was based on the question ‘What does the business do (main economic activity)?’ Additional instructions were provided as follows: ‘Describe the MAIN INDUSTRY, economic activity, produce or service of the person’s employer or company, e.g. gold mining, road construction, supermarket, police service, hairdressing, banking; OR activity of the person, if self-employed, e.g. subsistence farming.’ The question on the name of the business or company that the person works for was also referred to when needed in coding. The instruction for the question on the name of the business or company specified that the respondent or interviewer should indicate ‘Domestic Service’ for persons doing paid domestic work in a private household.
Domestic workers in private households are included in the industry category ‘private households’.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q19.5/7 What is the FULL name of the business/company or organisation for whom (the person) is working? What does the business do (main economic activity)? (write in)
Personal questionnaire: Q19.5/7 What is the FULL name of the business/company or organisation for whom this person is working? What does the business do (main economic activity)? (write in)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were employed (household and personal questionnaires only)

Notes for users
This question was only asked in respect of people who were working/employed at the time of the census (see Employment status).
The question inquired about each individual’s place of work. Respondents were asked to give the name of the suburb, village or settlement, the name of the city, town, farm or tribal authority, and the name of the magisterial district. If the place was not in South Africa, they were asked for the name of the country. This was coded to both ‘Magisterial district’ and ‘Place name’. At this stage only ‘Magisterial district’ data is available.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q19.6 Where is this place of work? (write in)
Personal questionnaire: Q19.6 Where is the place of work? (write in)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were working (household and personal questionnaires only)

Final code list
See Magisterial district and Country of birth code lists for details based on the following principles:
pmm Province/Magisterial district (if within South Africa)
0cc Country (if elsewhere)
000 Unspecified
097 N/A: Age <15 or not employed
098 N/A: Institution

SuperSTAR build has a hierarchy of Province then Magisterial district:
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
Northern Cape
Free State
KwaZulu-Natal
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Northern Province
Other country
Unspecified
N/A: Age <15 or not employed
N/A: Institution

Notes for users
This question was asked in respect of all people who were not working/employed at the time of the census, and who were said to be either (a) unemployed and looking for work or (b) unemployed/not working and not looking for work but would accept work. The question was thus addressed to all people with a response of unemployed on the census questionnaire (see Employment status).

Source
Household questionnaire: Q18.2/3 Focus on the type of work (the person) used to do in his her last occupation. What would you call this occupation? Describe (the person’s) main duty or activity that (he/she) used to do in this occupation in more detail (write in)
Personal questionnaire: Q18.2/3 Focus on the type of work this person used to do in his/her last occupation. What would you call this occupation? Describe this person’s main duty or activity that he/she used to do in this occupation in more detail (write in)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons aged 15 years and older who were either ‘Unemployed, looking for work’ and ‘Not working – not looking for work’) (household and personal questionnaires only)

Final code list
As for Occupation except:
987 N/A: Age <15 or not unemployed
995 Never worked

Notes for users
Income was collected in categories rather than single rand amounts to increase the response rate and to obtain more accurate data.
Respondents could choose to think of income in terms of weekly, monthly or annual amounts. The census questionnaire gave the following instructions: ‘Think of the past year (1 October 1995 to 30 September 1996) and the money each person received. Please indicate each person’s income category before tax. … Include all sources of income, for example, housing loan subsidies, bonuses, allowances such as car allowances and investment income. If the person receives a pension or disability grant, please include this amount.’ The income asked for therefore included both income earned from work and other income.
This question was asked of all persons, whether working or not at the time of the census. However, for many purposes, users may want to restrict this to all persons aged 15 years or older, or all employed persons. Individual income was used in the derivation of a crude estimate of household income. See the section on household income for more detail. Household income is presented in annual amounts.

Source
Household questionnaire: Q20 Please indicate each person’s income category before tax (pre-coded)
Personal questionnaire: Q20 Please indicate this person’s income category before tax (pre-coded)
Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included

Applicable population
All persons on household and personal questionnaires

Final code list
Usually monthly income will be used in tables produced (alternatively could use weekly or annual amounts):
1 None
2 R1-R200
3 R201-R500
4 R501-R1 000
5 R1 001-R1 500
6 R1 501-R2 500
7 R2 501-R3 500
8 R3 501-R4 500
9 R4 501-R6 000
10 R6 001-R8 000
11 R8 001-R11 000
12 R11 001-R16 000
13 R16 001-R30 000
14 R30 001 or more