Concerns With Measuring Informal Sector Employment: An Analysis of National Household Surveys in South Africa, 1993-2001

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This paper examines the conceptual and practical difficulties that arise when attempting to measure informal sector employment in South Africa, and it traces how measures of this employment have changed over time. We review national household surveys conducted between 1993 and 2001, investigating how these surveys have sought to better capture the work that people do, how this work has been classified, and what the implications may be for estimates of total employment, and of informal sector employment specifically, in the country.