Resource Intensity, Knowledge and Development: insights from Africa and Latin America
Minerals economies often struggle to diversify their industrial base. Lorenzten considers opportunities for industrial diversification stimulated in resource based industries. This know-how can then migrate laterally to other industrial uses. The resource-based technology clusters programme of the Human Sciences Research Council and Mintek proposed that this could be an important way for minerals economies to…
read more >>Constructing Future Growth Opportunities: The Potential to develop an Intensive Civil Engineering and Construction Works Exports Strategy
Lowitt assesses the economic contribution of South Africa’s civil engineering and construction works sector through both domestic and export activity. She then compares the domestic sector and government’s approach to export activity with those of other developing countries. The idea of using external demand to grow a domestic construction sector is not new, and international…
read more >>Business process outsourcing in identified financial services sub-sectors: the potential for offshore business flows into South Africa and consequent recommendations for targeted government support
Business process outsourcing (BPO) has enormous potential to support economic growth and employment in South Africa. So far, the focus in SA has mainly been on contact centres, where South Africa does not enjoy a comparative advantage. Competitive advantage is more likely to be found in back-office BPO: this paper specifically looks at potential opportunity…
read more >>The Employment Creation Potential of Recycling in South Africa
Lowitt assesses the job creation potential of South Africa’s recycling industry and whether government could promote employment in this area. The first section of the paper reviews the debate on the role of recycling in industrial production and the options available to governments for strategically positioning such activities in the short and long run. This…
read more >>Exchange rates and employment: critical issues
The analysis of exchange rates and employment has received scant attention in development economics. This is surprising, since there appears to be a number of well-defined transmission channels through which exchange rates impact on employment. In South Africa this is particularly important given the rand’s higher volatility relative to other emerging economies. The main focus…
read more >>Industrial Strategy, Offshoring, and Employment Promotion in South Africa
South Africa has an extremely high rate of unemployment, but also substantial capacity in the service industries. Business process outsourcing and offshoring (BPO&O) is a rapidly expanding global opportunity through which the country might generate many jobs in traded activities. It is essentially a new activity, enabled by the diffusion of broadband and Internet services…
read more >>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…
read more >>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 >>Development Paths and Employment
Intensive growth is defined as growth driven by productivity improvements. Productivity improvements are essential for rising incomes and poverty reduction, but can also have the effect of reducing employment ratios. Greater understanding of the role of productivity in development and growth is needed.Davies and van Seventer explore the meaning of intensive and extensive growth paths…
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