South Africa - GDP per person employed (constant 2011 PPP $)

The latest value for GDP per person employed (constant 2011 PPP $) in South Africa was 49,720 as of 2020. Over the past 29 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 50,072 in 2012 and 40,861 in 1993.

Definition: GDP per person employed is gross domestic product (GDP) divided by total employment in the economy. Purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP is GDP converted to 2011 constant international dollars using PPP rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP that a U.S. dollar has in the United States.

Source: International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database. Data retrieved in September 2019.

See also:

Year Value
1991 43,878
1992 41,659
1993 40,861
1994 40,903
1995 40,979
1996 41,632
1997 41,702
1998 40,970
1999 41,005
2000 41,787
2001 42,591
2002 45,035
2003 44,861
2004 44,212
2005 45,541
2006 46,811
2007 47,369
2008 45,578
2009 46,305
2010 49,186
2011 50,007
2012 50,072
2013 49,776
2014 49,635
2015 48,491
2016 48,849
2017 48,434
2018 48,530
2019 48,821
2020 49,720

Development Relevance: Labor productivity is used to assess a country's economic ability to create and sustain decent employment opportunities with fair and equitable remuneration. Productivity increases obtained through investment, trade, technological progress, or changes in work organization can increase social protection and reduce poverty, which in turn reduce vulnerable employment and working poverty. Productivity increases do not guarantee these improvements, but without them - and the economic growth they bring - improvements are highly unlikely. GDP per person employed is a key measure to monitor whether a country is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. [SDG Indicator 8.2.1]

Limitations and Exceptions: For comparability of individual sectors labor productivity is estimated according to national accounts conventions. However, there are still significant limitations on the availability of reliable data. Information on consistent series of output in both national currencies and purchasing power parity dollars is not easily available, especially in developing countries, because the definition, coverage, and methodology are not always consistent across countries. For example, countries employ different methodologies for estimating the missing values for the nonmarket service sectors and use different definitions of the informal sector.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: GDP per person employed represents labor productivity — output per unit of labor input. To compare labor productivity levels across countries, GDP is converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates which take account of differences in relative prices between countries.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Base Period: 2011

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Labor & Social Protection Indicators

Sub-Topic: Economic activity