The present study analyses the 2016 Statistics South Africa Labour Market Dynamics Survey (LMDS), using the UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (2009) to identify cultural occupations and cultural industries.
In October 2018, the South African government held a high-profile Jobs Summit. In addition to acknowledging the challenges of the high South African unemployment rates overall, President Ramaphosa mentioned the importance of job creation for youth (15 – 34 years old) and women specifically. Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey (2018) showed that unemployment rates amongst young people have reached 39.3%. The figure is even higher for young black African women who are attempting to enter the labour market (45.9%).
The present study analyses the 2016 Statistics South Africa Labour Market Dynamics Survey (LMDS), using the UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (2009) to identify cultural occupations and cultural industries. The LMDS sample is designed to be representative at national and provincial levels and covers the entire national population aged 15 years and over. The sample size is roughly 33 000 dwellings per quarter (132 000 observations).
Results showed that the creative economy in South Africa (including both cultural and non-cultural support jobs in the CCIs) provided employment for 6.94% of the working population in 2016, an increase from 6.72% in 2015. Youths make up 35% of cultural employment, which equates to 379 000 jobs. Youth who work in the cultural sector are, however, more likely to be employed informally (47.2%) than youth working in non-cultural jobs (33.6%). While not yet representative of the population demographics, the
majority of those in cultural occupations are black African (73.2%), coloured people (9.3%) and people of Indian/Asian origin (3.3%).
People in cultural occupations in South Africa are older than those in noncultural occupations: 34.6% of cultural workers and 39.3% of non-cultural workers fall into the youth category. This may be because of the higher levels of education required in cultural occupations. A concerning finding is that a far lower percentage of female cultural workers fall into the youth category (29.2%) than male cultural workers (38.4%).
In terms of Cultural Domains, 43% of youth in cultural occupations are found in the Visual Arts and Crafts sector, followed by nearly 20% in Design and Creative Services. Findings also showed that there are geographical differences: Provinces with larger cities (such as Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal Province) tend to have a larger share of cultural employment overall. While these provinces also provide more cultural occupations for young people, some of the more rural provinces have a surprisingly large share of youth in cultural occupations. For example, the Eastern Cape Province has only 9.1% of cultural occupations overall, but nearly 13% of youth cultural employment.
As also found in other countries, cultural occupations respond quickly to changes in the economy. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of cultural jobs grew by 6.7%.
The findings suggest that the CCIs in South Africa have a significant role to play in providing jobs for young people, even in more rural areas, but that there are some challenges, such as the under-representation of young women, and the high levels of informality. Implications of the findings for policy are discussed.
