Background to Employment Scenarios
The Human Sciences Research Council’s Evidence-Based Employment Scenarios project was established to develop feasible scenarios of the economic structure to meet the goal of reducing unemployment by half between 2004 and 2014. It aims to identify the path and policy complements required to achieve these scenarios, as well as their political, financial and bureaucratic implications….
read more >>South Africa’s economic development trajectory: implications for skills development strategy.
Altman and Mayer argue that skills development in South Africa must be aligned to the economic and political imperatives of reducing unemployment and poverty, while fostering growth and international competitiveness. The legacy of a resource-based economy, overlaid by apartheid policies, has resulted in widespread poverty, inequality and unemployment existing alongside globally competitive industries. It is…
read more >>Halving Unemployment by 2014:What will it take?
Government committed to halving unemployment between 2004 and 2014. Altman considers the following questions: how fast might the labour market grow, and what rate of job creation will be needed to achieve this target? Has the South Africa economy yet embarked on a sufficiently labour-absorbing path? Is Government policy moving in the right direction?
read more >>The State of Employment and Unemployment
Altman outlines trends in employment, underemployment and unemployment in South Africa, and explains possible causes and policy implications. Net employment in South Africa was stagnant or falling since the early 1980s, mainly because of factors related to the Apartheid government’s policies of ‘Separate Development’. A large stock of unemployed built up over many years, and…
read more >>South Africa’s Economic Development Trajectory: Implications for Skills Development Strategy
Mayer and Altman argue that skills development in South Africa must be aligned to the economic and political imperatives of reducing unemployment and poverty, while fostering growth and international competitiveness. The legacy of a resource-based economy, overlaid by apartheid policies, has resulted in widespread poverty, inequality and unemployment existing alongside globally competitive industries. It is…
read more >>Determinants of Income Mobility and Household Poverty Dynamics in South Africa
Woolard and Klaasen analyse household income mobility dynamics among Africans in South Africa’s most populous province, Kwazulu-Natal, between 1993 and 1998. Compared to industrialized 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…
read more >>The institutional underpinnings of the unemployment-inflation relationship: a review paper
“Michie examines the institutional underpinnings in the relations between unemployment and inflation. This is a central question for policy makers in solving significant structural unemployment gaps: interventions to stimulate the economy can often lead to inflationary impacts unless the institutional environment enables the required response by firms to invest and ultimately generate more employment. He…
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