Mining Employment Scenarios for South Africa to 2024
by BAARTJES, N., AUCHTERLONIE, A., SORENSEN, P. & GOODE, R., 2007Research Report, Employment Growth & Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council
Baartjes et al investigate the employment potential of the South African mining industry. They assess mining investment on a commodity-specific basis, the drivers of mining employment, how these relate to investment, and whether significant technological changes (greater mechanisation) would be widely adopted. This is followed by a discussion of employment, incomes and occupational skills levels,…
read more >>Identifying employment creating sectors in South Africa
by ALTMAN, M., 2005Research Report, Employment Growth & Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council
Will Government’s current policy priorities and plans in relation to the formal services sector guide the economy towards its 2014 target of halving unemployment? Net new employment has mainly been found in formal and non-formal services. Given the structure of the SA economy, it is most probable that future employment will also be sourced from…
read more >>Background to Employment Scenarios
by ALTMAN, M., 2006Research Report, Employment Growth & Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council
The Human Sciences Research Council’s Evidence-Based Employment Scenarios project was established to develop feasible scenarios of the economic structure to meet the goal of reducing unemployment by half between 2004 and 2014. It aims to identify the path and policy complements required to achieve these scenarios, as well as their political, financial and bureaucratic implications….
read more >>An overview of Industrial Policy and its Implications for HRD
by ALTMAN, M., MAYER. M., , 2003HRD Review 2003, Education, Employment and Skills in South Africa; Human Sciences Research Council Press. Chapter 3, pp 64-85
Altman and Mayer analyse the impact of South Africa’s industrial policy on the demand for labour. They show that industrial development has historically been driven by minerals extraction and import substitution, overlain by apartheid policies that excluded the majority of the population from the economy. This entrenched a growth path characterised by capital-intensive production processes,…
read more >>Quantifying the Outsourcing of Jobs from Manufacturing to Services
by TREGENNA, F. , 2008South African Journal of Economics Vol. 76:S2 August 2008
There has been debate internationally and in South Africa about the extent to which a relative decline in manufacturing employment and rise in services employment can be accounted for by intersectoral outsourcing of jobs in the domestic economy. This article develops a new methodology for testing for and quantifying outsourcing at an economy-wide level. This…
read more >>Employment and skills in South African Exports
by VAN SEVENTER, D.E.N, 2006Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
Van Seventer reports on the labour absorption of South Africa’s exports, using a simple configuration based on a first-generation social accounting matrix (SAM). It compares the labour absorption of exports with that of domestic demand, and also discusses labour absorption by destination market. A distinction is made between full backward linkages and those where supply…
read more >>The Contribution of Manufacturing and Services to Employment Creation and Growth in South Africa
by TREGENNA, F. , 2008South African Journal of Economics Vol. 76 August 2008
Tregenna examines the linkages between the manufacturing and services sectors. It also looks at linkages between these two sectors and the rest of the domestic economy. Tregenna does this by analysing input-output tables and employment trends. This reveals that manufacturing is particularly important as a source of demand for the services sector as well as…
read more >>Dynamic and Follower Sectors
by ALTMAN, M & NGANDU, S, 2008Research Report, Employment Growth & Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council
Altman and Ngandu consider the role of different kinds of sectors’ contribution to growth and employment. Historically, goods production and exports have been a central focus of employment strategies. However, a growing majority of employment created globally is found in services, which are often considered to be non-traded sectors. This raises concerns for policy that…
read more >>Issues of Growth and Employment Concerning the Manufacturing and Services Sectors in South Africa
by TREGENNA, F. , 2006Research Report, Employment Growth & Development Initiative, Human Sciences Research Council
There has been much talk in recent years, both in South Africa and internationally, of the rise of the services sector. Manufacturing is regarded by some as no longer being able to generate economic growth and employment on the scale required in a country such as South Africa. Others have concern that there is a…
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