Open and effective data systems for skills planning in South Africa

Abstract

The starting point to build a credible institutional mechanism for skills planning in South Africa is to evaluate existing datasets and information systems. What are the sources of micro-data available for the analysis of supply and demand in the South African labour market? What is the state of 'usability' of skills-related datasets that may exist across government departments? Lynne Woolfrey and Mariette Visser address these technical questions, and provide important insights for policy-makers and researchers across government.

Micro-data provide critical evidence to inform skills planning. An early LMIP study mapped the wide range of labour market and skills planning-related data maintained by government, research, education and NGO institutions, available in the public domain and on the world-wide web. To be as comprehensive and relevant as possible, the study included data sources from 1993 to February 2013.