A new study has found that foreign nationals occupy fewer than four percent of South Africa's formal jobs, challenging the widely held perception that migrants are taking employment opportunities away from South Africans.
The research, conducted by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), comes amid growing anti-immigration protests driven by high unemployment and frustration over poor service delivery.
In recent months, demonstrators have increasingly blamed foreign nationals for the country's unemployment crisis, calling for stricter immigration enforcement and the deportation of undocumented migrants.
However, the study found that foreign workers account for just 3.4% of formal employment in South Africa, a figure that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.
The findings are based on an analysis of tax records from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), which researchers say provides a reliable picture of the country's formal labour market.
Researcher Justin Visagie acknowledged the economic hardships facing many South Africans but urged caution against attributing the country's employment challenges to foreign workers.
"The average South African has every right to be very frustrated with where they find themselves. There are very high levels of unemployment, struggles with failures of public service delivery, and many other challenges," Visagie said.
"But we also need to ask who is ultimately responsible."
Visagie said the SARS data made it possible to accurately measure the number of foreign nationals employed in the formal economy.
"We can count the number of foreigners in our formal jobs market very easily because we have access to SARS tax returns. Analysing those records, we found that only about 3.4% of all formal jobs go to foreigners," he said.
He added that the figure demonstrates the relatively small share of formal employment held by foreign nationals.
"If you lined up 100 people in a queue, only one, two, three, or perhaps four would be foreign nationals. We also found that this proportion has remained constant over the last ten years."
According to Visagie, the findings leave little doubt about the role of foreign nationals in South Africa's formal labour market.
"Foreigners simply do not make up a large share of formal employment," he said.
He noted, however, that employment patterns in the informal economy are more difficult to assess due to limited and less reliable data.
"When it comes to the informal sector, it's a trickier discussion," Visagie said.
The study adds fresh evidence to the ongoing national debate over immigration, unemployment and the factors contributing to South Africa's economic challenges.