Solar electrification by the concession approach in rural Limpopo ...

Solar electrification by the concession approach in rural Limpopo province 72.6 Employment status of household headsTable 2.9: Employment status of household head according to sub-samplesSHS usersGrid usersNon-electrifiedhouseholdsEmployed 58% 49% 40%Unemployed 15% 9% 33%Self-employed 8% 20% 2%Housewife 19% - 3%Pensioner - 29% 21%Disability pension - - 2%Having already noted the prevalence of formal employment among SHS-users, and own businessesamong grid-users from looking at sources of income, the trends shown in employment status ofhousehold heads are to be expected. The high unemployment rate (more than double that of SHSusersand more than triple that of grid-users) among non-electrified household heads partly explainsthe comparatively low income levels found in this sub-sample. It has already been noted that SHSuserstend to have the youngest household heads, which partly explains the absence of pensioners forthis sub-sample.2.7 Migration: Household members living away from homeThis section explores the issues around the movement of household members to other areas and theirimpacts on household income. It is readily apparent that roughly half of the households in eachcategory have no members living elsewhere. There is striking similarity across sub-samples in thischaracteristic, which may have less to do with mode of electrification than with other local factors.SHS-users have the highest percentage of absent household heads, which may be explained by thefact that this sub-sample has the highest percentage of formally employed household heads, who arepredominantly male. Formal jobs are generally available in towns. SHS-users were found to havepractically no contribution to household income from non-members, and they were alsopredominantly not supporting absent members. Grid-users, on the other hand, have only half thepercentage of absent of household heads, which may be partly due to the sub-sample having by farthe highest percentage of self-employed household heads who are most likely to work locally. Thesub-sample has, by a wide margin, the highest incidence of incoming remittances from outside thehousehold. The reason for this is not obvious. Like the SHS-users, there is virtually no reportedfinancial support of absent household members.Non-electrified households stand out in having the highest proportion of households supportingabsent members, yet this is the lowest income sub-sample. They have virtually no incomingremittances, but have already been shown to have the widest range of income sources. The identitiesof the absent beneficiaries were not explored in the survey questionnaire.Table 2.10: Absent household members and related issuesSHS-users Grid-users Non-electrifiedhouseholdsHousehold head absent 33% 18% 25%% of households with no members living elsewhere 51% 53% 54%Someone else 3 contributing to households 2% 27% 4%Supporting absent members (child, parent) 3% 4% 11%3 The survey did not explore the identity of the other persons contributing to the householdENERGY RESEARCH CENTRE