Attitudes to work and social security in South Africa pot

Tables Table 3.1: ‘I feel alright about being out of work because so many other people are out of work too’ 3Table 3.2: ‘A person can get satisfaction out of life without having a job’ 4

Michael Noble, Phakama Ntshongwana & Rebecca Surender

Attitudes to work and social security

Commissioned by the Urban Rural and Economic Development Research Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council and prepared by the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy, University of Oxford.

© 2008 Human Sciences Research Council

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3.6 Social grants as a government priority 113.7 Are social grants enough to live on? 133.8 Deserving or undeserving poor? A culture of welfare dependency? 143.9 Relationship between work and grants 15

Tables

Table 3.1: ‘I feel alright about being out of work because so many other people are out

of work too’ 3Table 3.2: ‘A person can get satisfaction out of life without having a job’ 4

Table 3.3: ‘Once you’ve got a job, it is important to hang onto it even if you do not really

like it’ 4Table 3.4: Views about the role of paid work 5

Table 3.5: ‘If you were unemployed or are currently unemployed, how willing do you

think you would be to get training for a different job?’ 7Table 3.6: ‘How willing would you be to move to a different area to find a job?’ 8Table 3.7: ‘It’s worth my accepting a job with a low wage now if I can improve my

position in the long run’ 9Table 3.8: ‘People who can’t get work deserve help in the form of social grants’ 10Table 3.9: ‘Who do you think should mainly be responsible for ensuring that people have

enough to live on in the following circumstances?’ 11Table 3.10: Priorities for extra government spending 12

Table 3.11: ‘Suppose the government had to choose one of the following options Which

do you think it should choose?’ 12Table 3.12: ‘The government should spend more money on social grants for the poor,

even if it leads to higher taxes’ 13Table 3.13: Should social grant amounts be raised? 13

Table 3.14: ‘Most people on social grants desperately need the help’ 14

Table 3.15: ‘Many people who receive social grants do not really deserve any help’ 15Table 3.16: ‘The Child Support Grant is too high and discourages people from

finding jobs’ 15Table 3.17: ‘Payment of social grants by the government encourages people to stop

helping each other’ 16Table 3.18: ‘What should a lone mother do if she has children under school age?’ 16Table 3.19: ‘Should government provide money to help with childcare?’ 17

Figures

Figure 3.1: Work-seeking strategies of the workless 6

Figure 3.2: Obstacles to finding employment 7

Figure 3.3: Reasons for moving in last five years 8

Figure 3.4: ‘If you did not have a job, what would you live on?’ 10

The Human Sciences Research Council is gratefully acknowledged for including the

module upon which this analysis is based within the South African Social Attitudes Survey

2006 Gemma Wright, Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, Dr Charles Meth and Benjamin

Roberts are thanked for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper

CSG Child Support Grant

EPWP Expanded Public Works ProgrammeHSRC Human Sciences Research CouncilLFS Labour Force Survey

SASAS South African Social Attitudes SurveyStats SA Statistics South Africa

UIF Unemployment Insurance Fund

Introduction

In September 2006, unemployment in South Africa (using the official definition) stood at

25.5% of the economically active population If we include ‘discouraged workers’1 the

figure is 36.2% (Stats SA, 2007) The rate of unemployment whether ‘official’ or ‘actual’

remains for all commentators unacceptably high (e.g Meth, 2006)

For those people of working age who are not in work, there is relatively little provision

available through the social security system in the form of cash transfers The social

insurance pillar of the South African social security system is at present very limited The

main provision is the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), which provides very limited

cover and only to those who have recently been in work (Committee of Inquiry into a

Comprehensive Social Security System for South Africa, 2002) Currently it covers fewer

than 10% of workers The social assistance pillar though relatively extensive, nevertheless

provides nothing for able-bodied people of working age Grants exist for low-income

disabled people (Disability Grant), children with low-income carers (Child Support Grant),

low-income older people (Older Person’s Grant), disabled children (Care Dependency

Grant), and fostered children (Foster Child Grant) (Department of Social Development,

2005) For able-bodied people of working age – the unemployed – there is a significant

hole in the safety net Such people are provided with only limited social protection

through measures such as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and in dire

circumstances may be able to claim distress relief through Grant in Aid There is plenty of

evidence that social grants going into the household are pooled to help all members

make ends meet (e.g Moller and Ferreira, 2003) but there is no dedicated grant –

conditional or otherwise – for the support of the unemployed themselves

Despite the absence of direct social assistance cover for unemployed people, and despite

persuasive scholarly argument to the contrary (e.g Meth, 2004), there is continuing media

and political concern that social grants might act as a disincentive to the unemployed in

seeking and obtaining work and create a ‘dependency culture’

In the context of these debates this study aims to obtain evidence about whether such

disincentive effects exist, that is, the extent to which social grants discourage recipients

from engaging in employment activities and foster a culture of dependency The study

explores the views of South African citizens about paid work, the social grants system,

and the relationship between social grants and paid work

1 See Stats SA (2006) for definitions of ‘official unemployment’ and ‘discouraged workers’.

undertaken by the authors on behalf of the National Department of Social Development under a DfID project (Surender et al., 2007).2

The analysis in this article is largely bivariate.3 Differences in attitudes between population groups,4 those defining themselves as ‘poor’, ‘just getting by’ and ‘non-poor’, and between the unemployed and the wider population were all explored Only differences that were significant (p< 0.05) have been reported

In order to distinguish the ‘poor’ from the ‘non-poor’, an investigation was undertaken into the banded household income variable in the data Unfortunately, nearly 25% of respondents either refused to answer the question or reported that they didn’t know or were uncertain of the household income This meant that it was not possible to produce

a reliable poverty indicator using equivalised household income.5 There is, however a question that asks the respondent: ‘Would you say that you and your family are … 1 Wealthy; 2 Very comfortable; 3 Reasonably comfortable; 4 Just getting along; 5 Poor; or

6 Very poor’ For analysis purposes, categories 1, 2 and 3 were combined to form poor’, category 4 remained as is, and categories 5 and 6 were combined to form ‘poor’.Our category of ‘workless’ includes both the ‘official unemployed’ and ‘discouraged workers’ and the economically inactive who are of working age (i.e 18 to 59 years inclusive for women, and 18 to 64 years inclusive for men) In some analyses the

‘non-unemployed (using the expanded definition) is used as an analytical category

When examining attitudes to social grants and their relationship to work, additional analysis was conducted to look at differences in attitude between those respondents in households in receipt of grants and other households Statistically significant differences have been reported

Since part of the aim of this analysis is to begin to assess whether the ‘poor’ or the

‘workless’ have values that are significantly different from the ‘non-poor’/‘those in work’, and in particular to explore whether these values show that the ‘poor’/‘workless’ exhibit a detachment from the labour market and display other characteristics of a dependency culture, most of the analysis is undertaken using these variables

2 This SASAS module was funded by a separate pump-priming grant from the University of Oxford.

3 Multivariate analysis of this module will be undertaken at a later stage.

4 Stats SA definition is used.

5 In due course income will be imputed for those who refused/didn’t know using Sequential Regression Multiple Imputation See http://www.casasp.ox.ac.uk/docs/Multiple%20Imputation.pdf

Findings

3.1 The importance of work

The dependency culture thesis (in simplified form) is predicated on the emergence of

communities where the adults have little or no attachment to the labour market, where

paid work is not valued and where individuals are content, in the long term, to derive

their income from state transfers (Mead, 1992; Murray, 1984; Murray, 1996) A ‘culture of

dependency’ emerges, it is argued, and this is transmitted intergenerationally Children, it

is hypothesised, see no working role models and observe a contented reliance on state

transfers and so inherit this tendency to ‘dependency’

The individuals exhibiting the dependency culture are said to be a moral ‘underclass’

(Auletta, 1982; Murray, 1984; Murray, 1986) In the US, where these notions re-emerged6

in the 1980s, the existence of an underclass with different values has been refuted by a

considerable weight of evidence (Jencks, 1992; Jencks and Pederson, 1991) In the UK,

the evidence is similarly weighted against any significant lack of attachment of the

unemployed to the labour market (Gallie, 1988); or the emergence of a dependency

culture (Morris, 1995; Walker, 1996) Earlier work had refuted the idea of intergenerational

transmission of negative values relating to motivation to work (Brown and Madge, 1982;

Rutter and Madge, 1976)

In order to explore issues surrounding the dependency culture thesis in a South African

context it is a useful starting point to consider the extent to which paid work is valued

across South African society

Table 3.1: ‘I feel alright about being out of work because so many other people are out of work too’

African Coloured Indian/Asian White All

Source: SASAS 2006, Group analysed: Unemployed (by population group)

In the first instance we examined the extent to which paid work conferred dignity on

those in employment In response to the statement ‘A person has to have a job to have

dignity’, the majority – 67% – either agreed strongly (26.5%) or agreed (40.6%) Of the

22% who disagreed, there were no significant differences by population group We might

have expected that those without jobs having adapted to their circumstances may have

held differing views However, we did not find that the workless7 had significantly

different views than the non-workless All those not in paid work were asked to comment

6 The notions of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor have a much older history dating back at least to the Elizabethan

poor law in England (1605) but probably to various laws enacted in the 14 th century following the Black Death, e.g

Statute of Labourers, 1388.

7 These are respondents of working age (men: 18 to 64 years; women: 18 to 59 years) who indicated that they were

‘not working for pay’ They will therefore include the ‘official’ unemployed, the economically inactive and the

on the proposition that ‘I feel alright about being out of work because so many other people are out of work too’ Notably, those without jobs were adamant that they did not feel adjusted to the position of being without a job

As can be see from Table 3.1, 86% of the unemployed disagreed with the proposition There were significant differences between population groups with 87.6% of African people disagreeing compared with 65.1% of the coloured population and 75.6% of the white population.8

All unemployed people agreed or strongly agreed (86%) that they got very bored having

no work to do This view was most apparent among Africans (87.6%) and weakest among the white group (64.4%)

Those in paid work were specifically asked to comment on statements relating to their

view of work and to the role of work as an agent of social integration First, in response

to the statement ‘a person can get satisfaction out of life without having a job’ 57.1% strongly disagreed or disagreed (Table 3.2) Significantly, those regarding themselves as

‘poor’ or who were ‘just getting by’ disagreed more strongly than the ‘non-poor’

Table 3.2: ‘A person can get satisfaction out of life without having a job’

Non-poor Just get by Poor All

Source: SASAS 2006, Group analysed: All respondents (by self-assessed poverty)

Second, a very high percentage of people working for pay felt it was important to ‘hang

on to a job’ even if they didn’t like it (Table 3.3):

Table 3.3: ‘Once you’ve got a job, it is important to hang onto it even if you do not really like it’

Non-poor Just get by Poor All

Source: SASAS 2006, Group analysed: All respondents (by self-assessed poverty)

The ‘non-poor’ population were least likely to agree (strongly or otherwise) with the sentiment but nevertheless a large majority (72.6%) still held the view The poor appeared

to demonstrate a greater attachment to the labour market (judged by this indicator): 82.4%

8 Further analysis will be undertaken to explore the group who strongly agreed/agreed to this statement This group may be capturing people who are experiencing extreme alienation Conversely it may be capturing people who have become resigned to the lack of any prospect of obtaining a job

thought it was important to hang on to a job even if you didn’t like it.9 And relatively few

poor people would leave a job they didn’t like unless they had another job to go to

Overall 67.4% of respondents disagreed or disagreed strongly with the statement ‘If I did

not like a job, I would leave, even if there were no other job to go to’ whereas only

21.7% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement

Third, those in work were given a series of statements to consider, all relating to the social

integration nature of work: These were:

‘I work because working is the normal thing to do’

‘I work because it gives me a sense of belonging to the community’

‘I work because in my job I meet people and don’t feel so isolated’

We see from Table 3.4 that in all these areas, there is agreement about the notion that

work promotes integration and overcomes isolation (Barry, 1998; Levitas, 2005) Seventy

per cent agreed (or strongly agreed) that they regarded working as the normal thing to

do, 65.6% saw it as giving a sense of belonging to the community, and nearly 64% saw its

role as overcoming social isolation

Table 3.4: Views about the role of paid work

‘Normal’ ‘Belonging’ ‘No isolation’

The feeling that work is the normal thing to do was highest amongst the Indian/Asian

and the coloured community with 86.8% and 83.9% respectively agreeing or strongly

agreeing with the proposition On the other hand, the social integration role of work was

stressed most by Africans, amongst whom nearly 69% agreed or strongly agreed that work

gave them a sense of belonging to the community whereas only 57% of the white group

held these views There were no significant differences between the ‘poor’ and the

‘non-poor’ on any of these issues

3.2 Seeking employment

Overall 81% of unemployed respondents in the survey stated that they were looking for

work This is much higher than the Labour Force Survey (LFS) percentage who say they

9 This may reflect the fact that people with higher skills can afford to be less ‘dependent’ on a particular job

are looking for work (around 53% of the total unemployed) This is probably explained

by the somewhat weaker test in SASAS than in the LFS.10

It is instructive to examine the work-seeking initiatives taken by those who state they are looking for work The strategies are shown in Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1: Work-seeking strategies of the workless

The largest percentage used social networks to find work (over 50%) while a large percentage also went from door to door

The majority of people in paid work expressed an intention to immediately look for work

if they lost their job (90%) However, the unemployed were pessimistic about the outlook with 61% who thought that there was no real chance of them getting a job in the area Given the importance attached to being in work, it is important to examine the barriers the workless experience in moving into work

As Figure 3.2 shows, for those stating that they are seeking work the largest perceived obstacle to employment was that there were no or too few jobs available.11

10 In SASAS those not currently working for pay were asked ‘Do you continuously look for work?’, whereas in the LFS respondents are asked ‘During the past four weeks, has …… taken any action a) to look for any kind of work b) to start any kind of business?’.

11 This supports findings from the LFS, September 2006 where, of 4.4 million officially unemployed, 3.8 million said the main reason that they were not working was because they could not find any work and 250 000 said they did not have the skills or qualifications (Stats SA, 2007: 47).

Figure 3.2: Obstacles to finding employment

The greatest obstacle to finding employment (no/few jobs available) is a ‘demand side’

factor that will require macro-economic policy shifts to make an impact Other reasons

include ‘supply side’ factors, and give pointers to possible ‘supply side’ interventions

Thus 20.7% gave ‘not enough qualifications’ and 12.4% gave ‘not enough relevant

experience’ as reasons for not getting a job These suggest the importance of putting in

place effective training programmes The data suggest that there was a great willingness

to train to get the necessary skills and this was particularly evident within the African

community (Table 3.5)

Table 3.5: ‘If you were unemployed or are currently unemployed, how willing do you think you

would be to get training for a different job?’

African Coloured Indian/Asian White All

Source: SASAS 2006, Group analysed: All respondents (by population group)

There were no significant differences between the poor and non-poor or between the

workless and non-workless

Table 3.6: ‘How willing would you be to move to a different area to find a job?’

African Coloured Indian/Asian White All

Source: SASAS 2006, Group analysed: Unemployed respondents (by population group)

Looking at this in another way, we asked whether any of the respondents had moved to another province or municipality within the last five years Of the 17% who had, the reasons for moving were varied but 61% moved to find work (Figure 3.3)

Figure 3.3: Reasons for moving in last five years