B. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
8. ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
8.1 ECONOMIC INDICATORS (2001 CENSUS)
STATUS NO %
Employed 12013 41%
Unemployed 17136 59%
Mfolozi Municipality
34 | P a g e
TOTAL 59689 100%
Employment Status
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Employed Unemployed Not Economically Active
Of the Economically Active Population (48% of people residing in Mfolozi Municipality, which is not of school-going age) only 41% is employed, meaning that the unemployment rate is extremely high, i.e.
59%. The high number of people who are not economically active can also be as a result of discouraged people who see no point in seeking work as their previous attempts have been unsuccessful.
An interesting statistic from the QOLS is that the main place of employment for 51.35% of the households in Mfolozi is Richards Bay/Empangeni. The second largest place of employment for the Mfolozi Municipality is EThekwini that was found to be the place of employment for 10, 81% of the households.
Table 7: Occupation
OCCUPATION NO %
Legislators, Senior Officials and Managers 261 2%
Professionals 317 3%
Technicians and Associate Professionals 514 4%
Clerks 646 5%
Service Workers, Ship and Market Sales Workers 968 8%
Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers 648 5%
Craft and Related Trades Workers 1262 11%
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers 1362 11%
Elementary Occupations 4604 38%
Undetermined 1433 12%
TOTAL 12015 100%
OCCUPATION (2001)
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Legislators, Senior Officials and Managers Professionals
Technicians and Associate Professionals Clerks
Service Workers, Ship and Market Sales Workers Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers
Craft and Related Trades Workers
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers Elementary Occupations
Undetermined
Table 8: Employment Sector
SECTOR NO %
Agriculture/Hunting/Forestry/Fishing 3002 25%
Mining/Quarrying 505 4%
Manufacturing 1112 9%
Electricity/Gas/Water Supply 46 0%
Construction 587 5%
Wholesale and Retail Trade/Repairs/Hotels/Restaurants 1196 10%
Transport/Storage/Communication 663 6%
Financial Intermediation/Insurance/Real Estate/Business
Services 621 5%
Community/Social/Personal Services 1235 10%
Private Households 1208 10%
Other/Not Adequately Defined 0 0%
Undetermined 1840 15%
TOTAL 12015 100%
Mfolozi Municipality
36 | P a g e EMPLOYMENT SECTOR (2001)
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Agriculture/Hunting/Forestry/Fishing Mining/Quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity/Gas/Water Supply Construction
Wholesale and Retail Trade/Repairs/Hotels/Restaurants Transport/Storage/Communication
Financial Intermediation/Insurance/Real Estate/Busine.. Community/Social/Personal Services
Private Households Other/Not Adequately Defined
Undetermined
The above tables shows that most employed people are in the agriculture sector which is characterized by long hours of work and low pay. Part of the reason for the dominance of this sector can be attributed to low levels of education for the adult population in the Municipality as it was shown earlier. The labour intensiveness of this sector also allows for high numbers of labour to be absorbed into it.
In addition to the data presented above, the QOLS provides information on the type of employment in the respective sectors as well, i.e. full time, part time, self employed etc. This information is presented hereunder:
Table 9: Mfolozi – Employment Type by Economic Sector (2007) (%) Employment
Type
Agric Mining Manuf ac.
Electr./
Gas/Wa ter
Constr. Whole sale/R etail
Bus.
Service s
Comm.
Services Pvt HH
Other
Self Employed 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.25 0.00 6.25 0.00 0.00 6.25 81.25
Full Time 1.39 1.39 6.94 6.94 12.50 2.78 0.00 2.78 2.78 62.50
Part Time 7.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 14.29 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 78.57
The table on the previous page shows the significance of the construction sector in the Mfolozi Municipality as well as the “other” economic sector.
Table 10: Average Annual Household Income
RANDS PER ANNUM NO %
No income 5170 25%
R1 - R4 800 1620 8%
R4 801 - R 9 600 5376 26%
RANDS PER ANNUM NO %
R9 601 - R 19 200 3956 19%
R19 201 - R 38 400 2597 13%
R38 401 - R 76 800 987 5%
R76 801 - R153 600 423 2%
R153 601 - R307 200 149 1%
R307 201 - R614 400 54 0%
R614 401 - R1 228 800 16 0%
R1 228 801 - R2 457 600 63 0%
R2 457 601 and more 19 0%
Not Applicable (institutions) 3 0%
TOTAL 20433 100%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
No income R1 - R4 800
R4 801 - R 9 600 R9 601 - R 19 200
R19 201 - R 38 400 R38 401 - R 76 800
R76 801 - R153 600 R153 601 - R307 200
R307 201 - R614 400 R614 401 - R1 228 800
R1 228 801 - R2 457 600 R2 457 601 and more
Not Applicable (institutions)
According to the Low Income Households Map (see attached at the end of Section B.2) which depicts, at ward level, the percentage of households earning less than R1, 600 per month (in 2001), the poorest households reside in Wards 12 and 13. In these wards, more than 85% of the households earned less than R1, 600 per month.
Household expenditure patterns are interesting to consider in context of household income levels. It is a known fact that low income earning households spend a larger percentage of their income on
Mfolozi Municipality
38 | P a g e Table 11: Main Expenditure Items
Municipality Year Food Transport Education Clothing and Footwear
Medical and Dental
Mfolozi 2004 39.86 8.15 9.50 15.56 6.76
2005 34.37 12.09 12.75 15.56 3.55
2007 32.58 6.56 23.17 31.16 2.18
uThungulu 2004 33.75 8.21 19.94 8.34 4.61
2005 30.70 8.66 11.51 8.97 5.12
2007 41.21 8.45 13.48 12.00 4.26
The QOLS further investigated the number of dependents per person employed as well as involvement in the informal economy. The following tables show the results for the Mfolozi Municipality in relation to the uThungulu District Municipality.
Table 12: Dependents per Person Employed
Municipality Year Dependents per Person Employed
Mfolozi 2004 7.5
2005 7.7
2007 6.4
uThungulu 2004 9.4
2005 5.8
2007 6.2
Table 13: Involvement in the Informal Economy
Municipality Year Involved in Informal Economy
Mfolozi 2004 15.24
2005 5.23
2007 18.84
uThungulu 2004 7.28
2005 2.79
2007 13.31
The above two tables show that Mfolozi Municipality has a slightly higher dependency ratio than the average for the district while the percentage of households involved in informal economic activity is also slightly higher than the district average.