Urbanization in South Africa and the Changing Character of Migrant Labour¶
Kevin R. Cox; David Hemson; Alison Todes (2004). Urbanization in South Africa and the Changing Character of Migrant Labour. South African Geographical Journal 86(1), 7-16 (online version dated 9 August 2005). Department of Geography, The Ohio State University (online paper).
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Post-1994 South African economy |
| Method | mixed |
| Period studied | 1986–2002 |
| Regions | South Africa, Durban, Gauteng (Johannesburg-Pretoria), former homelands / deep rural areas |
| Themes | mining migrant labour, demography urbanisation, bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, inequality poverty unemployment, transition post apartheid, origins segregation |
| Citation key | cox2004 |
Argument¶
The paper asks why migrant labour persists after influx control ended in 1986, which challenges the view that it was purely state-enforced. Using the 1996-98 Household Surveys and sixteen interviews in Durban, it argues that migrancy has become more heterogeneous, less tied to mining and increasingly informal. It also argues that migrancy now persists largely because of the post-mid-1980s collapse of formal urban employment, risk-spreading household strategies, and patriarchal and cultural attitudes. Rural-to-urban relocation since 1986 has been modest, and urbanisation is a gradual, tentative process rather than an either/or shift.
Evidence and method¶
Statistics South Africa Household Surveys 1996-98 (almost 65,000 households); a principal components analysis of census indicators to define 'deep rural areas'; sixteen open-ended interviews with migrant workers in Durban in 2001-02 (Cato Crest, Warwick Triangle, women's hostels); a 1996 survey of 183 male migrant hostel workers on the Durban docks.
Findings¶
- Migrant labour remains widespread among black households, especially in deep rural areas. (p. 5)
- Deep rural households had far higher migrancy rates. (p. 5)
- A third of migrant workers do not come from the former homeland-type deep rural areas. (p. 5)
- Johannesburg-Pretoria is the dominant destination for migrant workers. (p. 9)
- Mine employment of migrants has declined, with drivers and security now prominent. (p. 10)
- Post-1986 net movement out of the deep rural areas was small. (p. 12)
- Movers from deep rural areas rarely include migrant workers, and are younger and more educated. (p. 14)
- Post-influx-control migrants increasingly bring families to the city. (p. 19)
- Informal-sector work now dominates the interviewees' lives, replacing recruitment-agency formal placement. (p. 21)