A survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council found that South Africans view foreign nationals as a threat in the labour market, an opinion not backed by existing population data.
Why do South Africans view foreign nationals as a threat?
Xenophobia has, for a long time, reared its ugly head in South Africa, the crux of it attached to rising unemployment.
Civic organisations such as Operation Dudula, and other anti-drug movements, have shaped discourse on social media regarding the impact of foreign nationals in South Africa.
According to preliminary data from HSRC’s 2021 Social Attitudes Survey, “the majority of the general populace views foreign nationals as a threat.”
Particularly, South Africans believe “foreigners are a major source of unemployment and other socio-economic problems.”
“It would appear that anti-immigrant sentiment has grown since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and as a consequence of it,” the research council noted in its findings.
While it may be true that the overall population size of foreign nationals in South Africa has increased, data collected by Statistics South Africa since 1996, suggests the root cause to rising unemployment has very little to do with international immigrants.
How many immigrants live in South Africa in 2022?
Census data collected by Stats SA over the years debunks the general perception shared by a majority of the survey’s participants (35%) that there are more than 25 million foreign nationals living in South Africa, the majority of whom are undocumented.
In fact, using data from Census and 2020-2021 population estimates made by the United Nations Population Division, the World Bank’s KNOMAD Unit and Stats SA figures, the HSRC found that South Africa housed 852 992 international migrants between 2016 and 2021, 47.8% of whom settled in Gauteng.
With Census 2022 underway, Stats SA experts suggest that “there were approximately 3,95 million foreign-born persons living in the country at the mid-point of 2021.”
Are foreign nationals taking jobs away from South Africans?
While the research council conceded it was impossible to acurately account for undocumented foreign nationals, demographic registration data unequivocally “shows that assertions about millions of undocumented migrants living in the country are false.”
Moreover, this global phenomenon is, according to HSRC, in no way linked to rising unemployment in South Africa.
As a matter of fact, a study conducted by the World Bank in 2018 found that “for every employed migrant in South Africa, he/she creates two jobs for South Africans.”
“Many migrants working in the informal economy are very vulnerable. When asked about their workplace vulnerability, this group were more likely than non-migrants to have poor working conditions. About half (55,6%) had not made contributions to UIF and 40,5% had no employment contract. Of those with a contract, 41,3% had one with an unspecified duration.
“Given the current state of the economy, it is reasonable to assume that this type of vulnerability would continue beyond lockdown conditions and the end of the State of Disaster,” HSRC noted.
Here is the document containing the preliminary findings of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS).