Researching decent work in Gauteng, South Africa

In 2009 South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma announced that “the creation of decent work will be at the centre of our economic policies and will influence our investment attraction and job creation initiatives”. This paper reports on research developing and applying a sector-based diagnostic tool and policy instrument to assist the government of the province of Gauteng progressively to realise the goal of decent work.

            The term “decent work” is inherently vague: decency is a normative concept, which makes it difficult to measure and assess progress towards the goal of making all work decent work. The one comprehensive attempt by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to measure decent work and present indices for over 100 countries was shelved when it was attacked by employers. Nonetheless, in September 2008, a tripartite meeting of experts on the measurement of decent work was held in Geneva and ten indicators or themes were agreed upon.

            To meet the challenge trying to measure progress toward decent work in Guateng, we decided to measure the experience of individuals in terms of these themes. We began by identifying three precarious sectors where the decent work deficit is expected to be high:  private security guards, farm workers and the hospitality sector (restaurants and hotels). We then undertook parallel qualitative studies using in-depth interviews and focus groups among workers and – where possible – employers. This enabled us to examine variations in the different components of the “decent work deficit” across sectors We found that, for example, in the case of private security guards the themes related to work benefits and to personal/safety concerns were most prevalent. On the basis of the priorities identified in this way we were able to make short-, medium- and long-term recommendations on how the goal of decent work could be progressively realized.