South Africa
ZA desk: South Africa first; United States, United Kingdom, euro area, Australia and New Zealand alongside.
+0.02 pp
As of 2025 | % of total employment
| Year | Wage workers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 82.73% |
| 2024 | 82.71% |
| 2023 | 83.69% |
| 2022 | 83.06% |
| 2021 | 83.03% |
| 2020 | 83.28% |
| 2019 | 83.66% |
| 2018 | 84.43% |
| 2017 | 84.53% |
| 2016 | 84.88% |
| 2015 | 85.41% |
| 2014 | 85.87% |
| 2013 | 85.14% |
| 2012 | 84.58% |
| 2011 | 84.31% |
| 2010 | 84.30% |
| 2009 | 84.48% |
| 2008 | 84.11% |
| 2007 | 83.92% |
| 2006 | 82.02% |
| 2005 | 82.48% |
| 2004 | 83.24% |
| 2003 | 83.06% |
| 2002 | 82.98% |
Wage and salaried workers (SL.EMP.WORK.ZS, modelled ILO estimate) are employees as a share of total employment — people who work for a wage or salary. Latest: 82.73% in 2025.
The complement is mostly self-employment and contributing family work. It says nothing about the size of the pay packet. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): latest 82.73% (2025), previous year 82.71% (2024); low 82.02% (2006), high 85.87% (2014).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the share of total employment made up of wage and salaried workers: people who work for an employer and receive a wage or salary. It comes from World Bank Open Data indicator SL.EMP.WORK.ZS, a modelled ILO estimate. The unit is a percentage of total employment, not a pay level, so a high reading describes how work is organised rather than how well it pays. The remaining share is mostly self-employed people and contributing family workers.
Because the indicator is modelled, its values are estimates built from national surveys, censuses and administrative sources and are revised as new inputs arrive. Coverage and informality definitions differ between economies, so compare direction and broad level rather than small gaps. The chart plots annual observations for the economies you select; the ranked table lists each economy’s latest published year. Read the year label, because economies do not report on the same schedule. Employees in informal jobs are still counted here, so a high share is not a measure of job quality.
South Africa appears first, with comparison economies where the producer publishes them. This desk filters the same official series as the all-countries view; it does not recalculate values.
Output per worker and employment-share indicators come from World Bank Open Data. The employment shares are ILO-modelled estimates published by the Bank. Each page gives its indicator and source link.
Chart and Table show the same observations. Range buttons change only the displayed years; use Country to switch desks. Each page names its source and licence.