| | Comparing South Africans' chances of finding a job with those of immigrants, using data from the 1996 census, they find that immigrants from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other countries are far more likely than South African-born men and women to be employed in South Africa. |
| | "Our results", Zuberi and Sibanda write "are ... consistent with the perception that immigrants and internal migrants with higher levels of education and probably a stronger will to succeed are indeed successful in sub-Saharan Africa's strongest economy." |
By Alide Dasnois
Not only are immigrants more likely to find jobs in South Africa than South African nationals, South Africans who have moved from one part of the country to another have a better chance of employment than those who have not.
These are the surprising findings of a study by Tukufu Zuberi and Amson Sibanda in a book on the demography of South Africa, recently published by the African Census Analysis Project and Statistics SA.
Zuberi, from the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and Sibanda, from the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, set out to discover whether immigrants fare better or worse than South Africans in the post-apartheid labour market.
Using data from the 1996 census, they examine the effects of several factors - place of birth, age, education, marital status and place of residence - on the chances of employment.
They find, incidentally, that white women with no education at all have a better chance of getting a job than those with some secondary schooling, while for African women, education increases the chances of being employed.
Both have a better chance of finding a job outside the urban areas; for white women the best options are the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, and for African women anywhere except Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
White men are nearly eight times as likely as African men to be employed, and white women's chances are 13 times better than those of African women.
Comparing South Africans' chances of finding a job with those of immigrants, using data from the 1996 census, they find that immigrants from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other countries are far more likely than South African-born men and women to be employed in South Africa.
Not only that, but South Africans who have moved from their place of birth are more likely to be employed than those who have not.
Men and women who moved from the magisterial district where they were born, either before or after 1994, had significantly better chances of being employed than those who had not moved.
Men who had moved since 1994 had more than four times the chances of employment of those who had not, and women had nearly three times. Thus does the "migrant advantage" carry over to internal migrants.
"Our results", Zuberi and Sibanda write "are ... consistent with the perception that immigrants and internal migrants with higher levels of education and probably a stronger will to succeed are indeed successful in sub-Saharan Africa's strongest economy."
The findings contrast with studies in other countries. In the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, the gap between employment rates among nationals and immigrants has been widening;
immigrants into Britain from the Caribbean, Pakistan and Bangladesh have higher unemployment levels than their British counterparts;
Mexican immigrants to the US and immigrants from northern Africa into Israel have lower economic success rates than the nationals of those countries.
Perhaps, the researchers suggest, the reason for the labour market success of immigrants into South Africa, especially those from the SADC region, could be that these immigrants were drawn disproportionately from a pool of people who were already successful in their own countries.
Whatever the reason, this success, coupled with perceptions of a "huge influx" of illegal immigrants and the high unemployment among South Africans themselves, are at the base of the tensions between immigrants and locals, they write.
The findings could fuel the righteous anger of those who like to blame foreigners for anything from job losses to car theft.
But they could also be interpreted to mean that the South African economy is the better for the presence of thousands of hardworking, successful immigrants.
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