Social Income Grants, Population Dynamics and Gender Distribution in the Agricultural Sector Employment

Abstract

This chapter reviews the distribution of social income grants, population dynamics and employment trends by gender in the agricultural sector. The South African Household Survey (2019) shows that social income grants remain a vital safety net, particularly in the poorest provinces. The percentage of households and persons who benefitted from a social income grant has increased since 2002. Data trends show that in 2018, 31 per cent of South Africans benefitted from a social income grant and 44.3 per cent of households received one or more social income grants. A further disaggregation by province shows that KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces have the largest number of recipients for social income grants. However, in all provinces the proportion of childcare grants was above 50 per cent in 2017, indicating the significant contribution of childcare grants to total social income grants. More than 60 per cent of the social welfare safety net spending in terms of social income grants was directed to childcare. Against this background, Aliber (2005) argues that the increase in the number of social income grant recipients coincided with a strong trend away from agriculture as a primary source of food and income. The expansion of social income grants seems to have replaced agriculture as a rural livelihood asset or safety net.

Another key question related to the policy of accelerated land reform and the debate on expropriation without compensation is whether these policy interventions can help reduce the degree of gender inequality and disparities in South Africa. Long-term trends show that the proportion of women in the population has increased from 50 per cent in the 1960s to just below 51 per cent in 2015. Rural population growth and its proportion have persistently declined since the 1980s, indicating the rapid increase in the rate of rural urban migration and urbanisation. With respect to the agricultural sector, data trends show that men still dominate the agricultural labour market. The upward movement in the agricultural sector employment post-2014 did not result in any significant shift in the gender distribution in employment trends.