Day labourers in pretoria - Entrepeneurial spirit in action or survivors in a cul se sac?

Abstract

Many of the unemployed in South Africa have to venture into the informal sector to raise income. The aim of this article is to describe the demographic and economic features of day labourers in Pretoria and to determine whether their activity in the informal sector is an exercise in entrepreneurship or a desperate effort to survive. The day labourers were found to be mainly male, young, very low skilled, experiencing no income security and supporting on average four people. The article concludes that day labourers are not guided by a spirit of entrepreneurship and are therefore not involved in this activity by choice in spite of other options.