Statements by some government ministers have done little to calm tensions.<\/p>\n
In the weeks preceding the violence, Nomvula Mokonyane, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, commented on Facebook that in Kagiso \u201c[a]lmost every second outlet (spaza) or even former general dealer shops are run by people of Somali or Pakistan origin (sic)\u2026I am not xenophobic fellow comrades and friends, but this is a recipe for disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n
And last week Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told Business Day that \u201c[f]oreigners need to understand that they are here as a courtesy and our priority is to the people of this country first and foremost\u2026 They cannot barricade themselves in and not share their practices with local business owners\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that people are here \u2018stealing\u2019 jobs and that they don\u2019t have a right to be here needs to be corrected,\u201d says Dr Zaheera Jinnah, an anthropologist and researcher at the ACMS.<\/p>\n
Myths and misconceptions travel quickly. But new data, some of which has yet to be published, presents a far more nuanced picture of what it means to be a migrant from Africa or Asia and trying to make a living in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The Migrating for Work Research Consortium (MiWORC), an organisation that examines migration and its impact on the South African labour market, released two studies last year that drew on labour data collected in 2012 by Statistics South Africa.<\/p>\n
They found that 82% of the working population aged between 15 and 64 were \u201cnon-migrants\u201d, 14% were \u201cdomestic migrants\u201d who had moved between provinces in the past five years and just 4% could be classed as \u201cinternational migrants\u201d. With an official working population of 33,017,579 people, this means that around 1.2-million of them were international migrants.<\/p>\n
A racial breakdown of the statistics reveals that 79% of international migrants were African, 17% were white and around three percent were Indian or Asian.<\/p>\n
Jinnah said there were misconceptions about the size of the international migrant community in South Africa. \u201cThere is a disconnect between perception and reality largely because there hasn\u2019t been data available until now. So a lot of what has been said and reproduced is based on hearsay and anecdotal evidence or myths.\u201d
\nMiWORC found that Gauteng province had the highest proportion of foreign-born workers with around 8% of the working population having been born in another country.<\/p>\n
Limpopo and Mpumalanga had the next highest proportion of international migrants at 4%, followed by North West (3%), the Western Cape (3%), Free State (2%), Northern Cape (1%), Eastern Cape (1%) and KwaZulu-Natal (1%).<\/p>\n
Low unemployment rates<\/strong><\/p>\n International migrants are more likely to be employed than South Africans. According to the MiWORC data, international migrants in South Africa have much lower unemployment rates than others. This is unusual. In most other countries, international migrants tend to have higher unemployment rates than locals.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s unemployment data shows that 26.16% of \u201cnon-migrants\u201d are unemployed and 32.51% of \u201cdomestic migrants\u201d are unemployed. By comparison, only 14.68% of international migrants are unemployed.<\/p>\n But while international migrants are less likely to be unemployed, most find themselves in positions of unstable, \u201cprecarious employment\u201d. They don\u2019t have access to benefits or formal work contracts.<\/p>\n International migrants in South Africa are more likely to take jobs that locals are not willing to take or find work in the informal sector.<\/p>\n According to the MiWORC research, 32.65% of international migrants are employed in the informal sector in South Africa compared to 16.57% of \u201cnon-migrants\u201d and 17.97% of \u201cdomestic migrants\u201d.<\/p>\n The studies suggest that this is because the informal sector offers the lowest entry cost into the labour market. The majority of international migrants also come from African countries which have large informal sectors.<\/p>\n Foreigners don\u2019t dominate informal sector<\/strong><\/p>\n According to MiWORC\u2019s research, international migrants are far more likely to run their own businesses. Eleven percent are \u201cemployers\u201d and 21% are classed as \u201cself-employed\u201d. By comparison, only 5% of non-migrants and domestic migrants were employers and only 9% of non-migrants and 7% of domestic migrants were self-employed. Dr Sally Peberdy, a senior researcher at the Observatory \u2013 says that the belief that international migrants dominate the informal sector is false. \u201cWe found that less than two out of 10 people who owned a business in the informal sector [in Johannesburg] were cross-border migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n Peberdy argues that international migrants do play a positive role in South Africa. \u201cThe evidence shows that they contribute to South Africa and South Africans by providing jobs, paying rent, paying VAT and providing affordable and convenient goods.\u201d<\/p>\n The Observatory\u2019s study, which is due to be published tomorrow, found that 31% of the 618 international migrant traders interviewed rented properties from South Africans. Collectively they also employed 1,223 people, of which 503 were South Africans.<\/p>\n
\nLate last year, the Gauteng City-Region Observatory \u2013 a collaborative project between Wits University, the University of Johannesburg and the provincial government \u2013 conducted a limited survey of the informal sector in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n