The challenge of employment creation in South Africa
Altman reviews trends in employment, unemployment and working poverty, as well as the employment scenarios developed by the Human Sciences Research Council. Central questions relate to which sectors might create jobs, the role of government in direct job creation, the connection between employment and poverty reduction, and the need for social protection. Many of South…
read more >>KwaZulu-Natal Economic Review
In 2002, KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism appointed the Human Sciences Research Council to undertake an economic review of the province with a view to establishing a provincial industrial strategy. The review encompassed the following key themes: • Growth in traditional and non-traditional primary, secondary and tertiary sectors • Changes in industrial structure,…
read more >>Horizon Scanning in South Africa: South Africa as a Regional Power? What it Means and the Challenges to 2030
South Africa’s status as an economic, political and military powerhouse in Africa has immense potential of promoting Africa’s stability, development and participation in global governance. The future of South Africa’s regional and global engagement continues to be framed by views of its emerging regional power or a ‘regional superpower’ status: the largest GDP in Africa;…
read more >>The Economy-Wide Effects of Price-Reducing Reforms in Infrastructure Services in South Africa
Prices of infrastructure services in South Africa may be higher than in other countries because of imperfect competition, non-tariff barriers to trade, or inefficiencies in production. A static computerised general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to analyse the economy-wide effects of reducing telecommunications and transport prices by reforming each of these three factors. This modelling…
read more >>The Effect of Exchange Rate Volatility on Trade and Employment: A Brief Review of the Literature
This paper forms part of the Human Sciences Research Council’s project on exchange rates and employment (MACRO006), which seeks to understand the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on employment in South Africa. The explanation of the factors determining the volatility of exchange rates is interesting, but from the policy perspective of this project, not an…
read more >>Revisiting South African Employment Trends in the 1990’s
This article revisits South African employment trends recorded since 1995. In particular, it investigates whether the job losses and gains recorded by the October Household Survey jobs in the mid-1990s reflect the reality. This is done by comparing the different official data sets, and by exploring alternative sources of information for three sectors that substantially…
read more >>Which Sectors Can Be Engines of Growth and Employment in South Africa? An Analysis of Manufacturing and Services
Tregenna investigates whether manufacturing still has the potential to be the engine of growth in South Africa, or whether services can play this role in future. International comparisons reveal that while the share of manufacturing value added in South Africa is high for the country’s level of income, the share of manufacturing employment is less…
read more >>What Theory and International Experience Suggest about the Role of Manufacturing in Good Employment Growth for South Africa
Although econometric evidence is not very strong, there seems no reason to doubt that parts of the manufacturing sector have been drivers of growth in many countries. Much microeconomic evidence attests to technological progress within manufacturing and a considerable spillover to other sectors. This spillover may be direct (manufacturing produces machinery and equipment that raise…
read more >>Manufacturing Employment and Import Dependence
Prof Rob Davies assesses the potential of promoting South Africa’s manufacturing sector through reduced import dependence. He explores two versions of the argument. The first suggests that it would be beneficial to reduce the imported component of inputs into manufacturing production. Imported inputs into manufacturing rose from 13.0% of gross output in 1993 to 15.9%…
read more >>