Questionnaire Text

Questionnaire form view entire document:  text  image

Ask for all persons aged 10 years and older (born before 10 October 1991)


P-18. Any work in the 7 days before 10 October

_ In the seven days before 10 October did (the person) do any work for PAY (in cash or in kind profit or family gain, for one hour or more?
1 = Yes: formal registered (non-farming)
2 = Yes: informal unregistered (non-farming)
3 = Yes: farming
4 = Yes: has work but was temporarily absent
5 = No: did not have work
If yes go to P-19

Questionnaire instructions view entire document:  text  image

Question P-18 -- Any work in the 7 days before 10 0ctober
Ask for all persons aged 10 years and over, that is, born before 10 October 1991

Question 18 has four parts i.e. P-18, P-18a, P-18b and P-18c. Only those who are working continue with the rest of Question 18. Those who are not working go to Question 19.


P-18 "In the seven days before 10 October did (the person) do any work for pay (in cash or in kind), profit, or family gain, for at least one hour?"

Payment in kind = e.g. when an employer buys a domestic worker clothes and pays for her medical expenses, or when people working on a farm get part of the crops in return.

Family gain = e.g. when a member of the family looks after the cattle.


Read all the categories to the respondent.

Work includes formal or informal work, farming, food production or food gathering, seasonal work (e.g. farm workers or other people who only work during a specific season), casual or piece work/job, selling vegetables or running a spaza.

[P. 49]

Classifying work as formal or informal
Formal work is work that takes place in a business or organisation registered in any way, or in the public sector, or in a non-governmental organisation. There are several ways to register a business, such as registration at a Registrar of Companies, Commissioner of Unemployment, South African Medical and Dental Council or Commissioner of Worker's Compensation. Businesses registered to pay VAT or registered as a close corporation are formal.

A private enterprise that is not registered in any way is classified as informal.


If a person had more than one activity among codes 1-3, indicate the one on which s/he spent the most time.

We are talking here about the week prior to census night. The answer is "Yes" (codes 1-4) if the person worked for at least one hour on any one day during the reference week. Note that temporary absence, e.g. on annual/sick/study leave, counts as having work for the purposes of this question.

For persons who say they worked (codes 1-3) or were temporarily absent from work, (code 4) skip P-18a, P18b and P-18c and go to Question P-19.

For persons who say they did not have work (code 5), continue with Questions P-18a, P-18b and P-18c. These questions are about unemployment.