The discourse of migration and scramble for jobs in the City of Johannesburg’s domestic work Sector from period 2008 to date

Abstract

The domestic work sector is one of the most vulnerable and yet marginalised employment category in South Africa despite its contribution in providing for poor families locally and in foreign countries. South Africa’s economy suffered major structural changes from the early days of economic liberalism in the 1990s to the post 1994 democratic government. With the decline of labour-intensive sectors such as manufacturing, mining and agriculture, the low- skilled women labour force went to look for jobs in the domestic work sector as their last hope. The competition in the domestic work sector intensified as black women from neigbouring countries migrated to South Africa to work as domestic workers in the private homes of employers. Mass deportations of illegal immigrants has not yielded desired results, as such, South African government may have to explore other mechanism such as amnesty and formal registration of undocumented migrants who have become a scapegoat for a shrinking economic pie in the country. More research is needed to understand the extent at which social protection systems shape the attitudes of the unemployed South African workforce.