Expanding Early Childhood Development Services: Labour Market Challenges
Altman outlines some of the challenges in rapidly expanding early childhood development (ECD) service delivery in a way that meets acceptable quality standards and that generates sustainable employment, based on findings from the “Scaling up ECD (0-4)” programme at the Human Sciences Research Council. It reviews the service delivery gap, outlines government’s emerging ECD programme,…
read more >>Forecasting the Demand for Scarce Skills, 2001-2006.
Woolard et al study the demand for high-level human resources for the period 2001–2006 and forecast the number of new positions arising and the replacement demand over the period. They use a labour demand model to estimate the number of new positions stemming from industrial growth. The demand for engineers, natural scientists and computer-related professionals…
read more >>A Review of labour Markets in South Africa: Education & Training
Moleke considers the effects of education and training on the labour market outcomes. She considers differences in labour market status, occupational distributions and earnings. Given the positive benefits of education, it can be expected that individuals want to acquire the maximum level of education they could afford. However, the decision to acquire education is influenced…
read more >>Where to for the South African Labour Market? Some ‘Big Issues’
The labour market landscape has changed dramatically over the first decade of democratic governance in South Africa. Of course, the most obvious change is extremely high and rising rates of open unemployment. This was partly caused by restructuring and capital intensification in traditional resource-based industries, without a concomitant growth in manufacturing or services. Historically, South…
read more >>Wage Determination in South Africa: What Do We Know?
Wages play an important role in the broader economy from both efficiency and equity perspectives. This article considers the state of knowledge on wage determination in South Africa. It asks the following questions: Is wage setting appropriate for South Africa’s development needs? Are wages determined in alignment with employment and growth needs to achieve full…
read more >>The State of the Labour Market in Contemporary South Africa
The state of the labour market in South Africa is a reflection of the crippling legacies of apartheid and as such is a major challenge confronting the government. There are pockets of progress, but progress is limited relative to the magnitude of the inherited inequities:· Whites still dominate high-level occupations; Africans and women are concentrated in…
read more >>Research Gaps: Labour Market Function and Policy in South Africa
Altman reviews an Human Sciences Research Council labour market research project aimed at identifying knowledge gaps to define a research agenda going forward. Seven overview papers were prepared.covering: low-wage work, labour market regulation, wage formation, the role of the public sector, education and training, school-to-work transitions, HIV/AIDS in the labour market, active labour market policies,…
read more >>Review of Labour Markets in South Africa: Low-waged and informal employment in South Africa
Low-wage employment and informal employment are two important considerations for labour market policy in South Africa. In addition to the high levels of low-wage income in labour market, the country has not been shielded from the rapid growth in informal employment across the globe. Understanding trends in and patterns of informal employment is critical for…
read more >>Labour Market Regulation: International and South African Perspectives
The first ten years of democracy in South Africa saw a significant programme of labour market regulation, as the new regime extended labour rights to employees and established structures to overcome apartheid deficits. Effective regulation has to address new forms of workforce segmentation, and new models of the employment relationship in the developed world provide…
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