poverty Archives - Miriam Altman

Household Food Security Status in South Africa

Altman et al assess household-level food security in South Africa using publicly available household survey data from Statistics South Africa. The two datasets that are used in particular are the General Household Survey, an annual household survey that began in 2002, and the Income and Expenditure Survey of 2005/06. Because these surveys are not designed…

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…

Policy Options to Leverage the System of Social Grants for Improved Access to Economic Opportunity

The distribution of social grants in South Africa expanded considerably between 2001 and 2007. However, in a context of high unemployment, there is concern that unemployed household members depend on grants that are meant to target children, the aged or disabled. Thus grants are spread thinly, dramatically reducing their contribution to the intended beneficiaries. Moreover,…

Women’s Households and Social Exclusion: A look at the Urbanisation Dimension

It is widely agreed that women-headed households are the most excluded constituency in South Africa. Government delivery aims specifically to empower poor women and their families to gain access to the developed economy in order to promote their escape from poverty, but how best to do this is not always clear. Poverty at household level…

Social floor and a decent standard of living

Homelessness on the streets has been of concern to governments and civil society for hundreds of years, and the number of homeless tends to rise when economic conditions take an adverse turn. Laying stress on questions of access to housing, livelihoods and services, this paper compares the historical causes of homelessness in Britain and Europe,…

Skeletons at the Feast? A review of the Homelessness Question in SA and Other World Regions.

Baseline Information on Poverty in the City of Tshwane

Welfare and safety nets are an integral part of the government’s response to poverty and inequality. The Division: Integrated Community Development in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council aims to ensure that the needs of women, children, youth, people with disabilities and older person are catered for in an integrated manner. The division commissioned the Human Sciences…

Determinants of Income Mobility and Household Poverty Dynamics in South Africa

This article analyses household income mobility among Africans in South Africa’s most populous province, KwaZulu-Natal, between 1993 and 1998. Compared to industrialised and most developing countries, mobility has been quite high, as might have been expected after the transition in South Africa. This finding is robust when measurement error is controlled for. When disaggregating the…

Leveraging Services for Employment, Growth and Equity: Access to Essential Services in Education and Health. Synthesis Paper

A key impediment to growth in South Africa is the relative shortage of high-quality human capital, manifested as part of the unequal distribution of assets in the country. International evidence shows that an unequal distribution of assets, especially of human capital, hampers overall growth and disproportionately affects the income growth of the poor. Attaining optimal…