Determining the Impact of Contract of Employment: A Case of Low Income Earners

Abstract

South African government has promised to create jobs in this democratic era; however workers continue to find themselves in unsecured or contingent labour market. As a consequence job security has captured the attention of public and private sectors since jobs are becoming scarcer than they used to be as a result of poor economic climate. Economic recession, new information technology, industrial restructuring and accelerated global competition contribute to job insecurity as employers cannot retain employees under a lifetime employment. The paper argues from the premise that without proper contract of employment the labour market will continue to fluctuate and become unstable. The survey design was used as it fit perfectly with the quantitative research approach. Target population (N=2836) comprised domestic workers, while accidental sampling was chosen as it was convenient to administer questionnaires to domestic workers. Finally, questionnaires were administered to a sample of 203 (n) participants with the rate return of 202. The research was based on voluntary participation. The empirical results of this study revealed, that particular factors exist that continually maintain the vulnerability of workers in the domestic sector. These factors are: poor movement of trade unionism, employment relationships without written contracts of employment, and lack of education. This serves as a reflection of little pressure on domestic employers to comply with new labour laws that cover domestic workers.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n2p221