’n Koorspenlesing van onsekere tye: Informele dagarbeiders in Johannesburg se subjektiewe welstand tydens COVID-19

In South Africa, persistent challenges with unemployment have led many individuals to seek opportunities in the informal sector. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governmental lockdown measures, significantly impacting vulnerable workers within this sector. A classic example of an informal wage employment activity is the presence of tens of thousands of men and women who congregate on South Africa’s street corners, next to traffic lights, other work-related businesses and in front of hardware stores – hoping to find temporary employment for a day or days from passing motorists or customers frequenting the shops mentioned above. According to the literature, day labourers in South Africa are among the most marginalised and vulnerable groups in the broader informal economy. This study delved into the subjective wellbeing (SWB) of informal wage labourers during the pandemic, with a specific focus on day labourers in Johannesburg. By analysing a sample comprising 230 individuals, we examined the interplay between employment, income, and SWB, considering their susceptibility to external shocks with specific reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, this research fills a critical gap, as no prior studies have explored the wellbeing of informal sector labourers in the South African context amid the pandemic. Following the approach employed by previous international and South African studies, a mainly quantitative design with a survey-based instrument was used. The day labour research population was defined as people congregating at informal hiring sites such as street corners, next to traffic lights, or in front of job-related businesses such as hardware stores in Johannesburg, hoping to find temporary employment for the day or several days. Fieldworkers for the study were recruited from students who had completed their studies in Johannesburg and did not yet have permanent employment at the time of the research. Given the COVID-19 limitations that were in place, training for the fieldwork was carried out during Zoom meetings. The fieldwork to collect the data was carried out over a period of two weeks at the end of October 2021. The analysis encompassed descriptive statistics and an ordered probit model to explore the determinants of SWB within the sample. In the context of South Africa, the literature on SWB underscores the statistically significant associations between SWB and variables such as gender, education, children, marital status, employment, and income. The empirical model used in this study utilised the above factors for day labourers in Johannesburg. The ordered probit model also considered the ordered nature of the dependent variable. In terms of the demographic results, all participants were male and the majority of day labourers interviewed (over 41%) fell within the 31-40 age bracket. Regarding relationship status, 59.2% of respondents were involved in some form of partnership (married or cohabiting). The average number of dependents relying on respondents’ incomes was four, ranging from zero to 15, inclusive of spouses, children, and parents. On average, respondents had two children, with the number of dependent children ranging from zero to eight. The regression results show that the SWB of day labourers was influenced by various demographic, employment, and employment-seeking history variables that are also significant in other studies in the field of SWB. The vulnerability of these labourers was emphasised through the model’s confirmation that several income variables significantly influenced their SWB. Day labourers are structurally vulnerable, with nothing to fall back on during exogenous shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the South African government tried to assist vulnerable parties by providing a COVID-19 grant, the results showed that many did not apply because they were not South African citizens, had already received another social grant, or did not possess the necessary documents to apply for it. Some respondents did not apply because they felt it was not worthwhile for such a minimal amount of money. It was also shown that the effects of the pandemic are continuing. The majority of day labourers in the sample earned less at the time of data collection (October 2021) than in preCOVID-19 times. No less than 95% of respondents now earned less than before the pandemic, while only 1% reported earning more than pre-pandemic levels. This underscores the disproportionate and enduring impact of exogenous shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable labour force segments. The findings represent a call to policy makers to prioritise the mitigation of the impact that future exogenous shocks may have on vulnerable groupings such as day labourers.