Question

Major industries or jobs people had in South Africa before the great depression

Answer 1

Here are the principal industries and typical jobs in South Africa in the decades before the Great Depression (roughly up to the late 1920s), with a short note on who did the work and where it was concentrated.

Major industries and typical jobs
- Mining (the dominant sector)
- Gold (Witwatersrand), diamonds (Kimberley), coal, platinum, copper
- Jobs: underground and surface miners, drillers, ore handlers, engineers, electricians, shift bosses, assayers, security, company managers, clerks
- Employers: large companies (e.g., Anglo American, De Beers) and many migrant labourers living in compounds

- Agriculture and pastoralism
- Commercial farming: wheat, maize, fruit, wine, wool, cattle, sheep; sugar in Natal
- Jobs: farm labourers, shepherds/stockmen, tenant/sharecroppers, overseers, smallholder farmers
- Large numbers of rural African families continued subsistence production alongside cash cropping

- Transport, ports and communications
- Railways and steamship lines were vital for moving minerals and agricultural exports
- Jobs: railway workers (engine drivers, stokers, track gangs), dockworkers/longshoremen, ship crews, telegraph and postal staff, lorry/coach drivers

- Manufacturing and processing
- Early industrialisation concentrated on food processing, textile mills, breweries, tanneries, metalworking for mining equipment
- Jobs: factory operatives, machinists, carpenters, foundry workers, mill hands

- Construction and building trades
- Urban expansion and mine/rail infrastructure drove demand
- Jobs: builders, bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, stonemasons

- Commerce, finance and professional services
- Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban were commercial/financial centers
- Jobs: shopkeepers, clerks, accountants, bank staff, lawyers, insurance agents, brokers

- Domestic service and informal work
- Especially large employers of women (both black and white households)
- Jobs: domestic servants, cooks, laundry workers, gardeners

- Forestry, fishing and small-scale crafts
- Local economies in certain regions: timber cutting, fishing communities, artisans and blacksmiths

Social and structural notes
- Mining and related urban jobs drew large numbers of African migrant labourers from rural areas; the migrant labour/pass system shaped labour supply.
- Many black South Africans remained in rural subsistence agriculture rather than wage employment; wage labour was concentrated in mines, towns and plantations.
- Regional differences: Transvaal and Witwatersrand dominated by mining; Cape Colony had shipping, wool, wine and ports; Natal had sugar and port activity; Orange Free State had grain and sheep farming.

If you want, I can give estimated employment numbers or a regional breakdown for a specific year (e.g., 1911 or 1921) and cite sources.