Nursing Attrition and the Work Environment in South Africa’s Health Facilities
Hall assesses shortages of professional health workers in the public health sector. Unsatisfactory working conditions in health facilities were mentioned as one of the key aspects responsible for the shortages. Literature indicates that stress caused by unsatisfactory work environments may play a major role in em ployees’ decision to resign their jobs, in spite of…
read more >>International Perspectives and Parallels in Labour markets
The article focuses on the apartheid era which left South Africa as a ‘special case’ in the field of labour market analysis, with large gaps of human development particularly in older generations, a huge degree of under utilisation of its labour force, and difficult tensions in its industrial relations. As if this heritage were not…
read more >>Beyond ‘Lean’ Social Democracy: Labour Law and the Challenge of Social Protection
Benjamin examines three inter-related issues that are central to policy-making on the future direction of labour market regulation in South Africa. The first of these is an examination of the impact of changes in the nature of work and the labour market on the efficacy of labour law. A second concern is to examine the…
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 >>Earnings Inequality in South Africa, 1995 – 2003
Woolard and Woolard use October Household Survey and Labour Force Survey data to establish whether the real earnings gap between highly skilled and low-skilled workers in the formal sector of the South African economy narrowed or widened between 1995 and 2003. It also assesses changes in the earnings gap between whites and other race groups,…
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 >>The State of Labour Market Deracialisation
Moleke looks at the racial skills distribution in the labour market. She finds that deracialisation is happening but the pace is slow and uneven across sectors. An attempt is made to identify some of the reasons for this problem. While the reasons are not weighted in terms of importance, the need to focus on education…
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,…
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