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Unemployment, Employment and Labour-Force Participation in Khayelitsha/Mitchell's Plain
No full textThis paper provides a rough guide to the labour force in Khayelitsha/Mitchell's Plain with a particular focus on unemployment. The task is partly conceptual (a discussion is provided on statistical norms for measuring unemployment) and partly empirical. Data is drawn from the 2000/2001 Khayelitsha Mitchell's Plain (KMP) survey, which was designed mainly to explore various dimensions of labour market attachment amongst African and coloured people in Cape Town. This survey covered the magisterial district of Mitchell's Plain which includes the African townships of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Langa; it is not a representative sample of the Cape Town metropolitan area but rather of working class (predominantly African and coloured) Cape Town. In the discussion that follows, reference is made to the questionnaire. The Stata 'do file's (which generated the results) are available on request. Part 1 of the paper outlines the standard labour force approach to labour statistics and points to areas where standard definitions can usefully be extended or supplemented. Part 2 continues the discussion, but with reference to employment and unemployment in KMP. A distinction is drawn between the strict and broad definitions of unemployment and an intermediate definition of unemployment (which includes active job seekers and those seeking jobs exclusively through social networks) is introduced. Part 3 examines the nonlabour- force participants. Part 4 expands the scope of the labour force by adjusting some of the statistical requirements used in earlier approaches. Using this expanded approach, Part 5 continues the exploration of different dimensions of unemployment.Grateful thanks are due to Dudley Horner, of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit of the University of Cape Town, for his help with analysing and cleaning the data
Public Works as a Response to Labour Market Failure in South Africa
No full textUnemployment has been rising in South Africa for the last three decades, leading to official unemployment rates of 26.4% (37% if the broad definition is used). This implies a jobless total of 7 million, with more than 40% of the rural population unemployed, and the development of a growing pool of workers who are excluded from the labour market. The South African economy is facing labour market failure, with labour supply increasingly outstripping demand. If the economy continues on its current growth path this problem of labour market failure will intensify and the employment situation will continue to deteriorate. The severe levels of unemployment resulting from this market failure are a particular problem in South Africa given the role unemployment plays in exacerbating poverty and inequality in an already highly unequal and segmented society, and the uneven incidence of unemployment among racial groups. A Public Works programming offers a response to both poverty and unemployment, while also addressing the linked national priority issue of asset creation. This paper discusses the option of state intervention through public works, reviewing the South African response in the context of global public works experience. The paper examines both project based public works programming, which forms the dominant policy response in South Africa, and the option of large-scale labour intensification of state expenditure, and examines the employment creation and cost implications of each, drawing on a case study from KwaZulu Natal. The paper concludes that public works interventions in South Africa to date have been relatively limited in scope and impact, and that the potential exists for far greater job creation and poverty alleviation through both the labour intensification of public spending, and the rationalization of the project based approach.With thanks to the KwaZulu Natal Department of Transport for their cooperation and for making data available on their visionary programme, to my supervisor Professor Francis Wilson, and to Dudley Horner of SALDRU, Professor Robert McCutcheon of the University of Witwatersrand Department of Civil Engineering, Dr Charles Meth of the University of Natal, and Professor Anthony Black and Richard Walker of the Economics Department of the University of Cape Town for their valuable comments
Labour intensive employment and social development: The working for water programme in the Western Cape Province
No full textLabour intensive employmen
A fly in the ointment: Productivity growth, job loss and the NPI
No full textProductivity, unemploymen
Nutrition and health in South Africa: The state of nutrition and the development of nutrition policy
No full textThe period preceding the April 1994 elections offers an opportunity for significant contributions to be made in policy formulation in key areas of social and economic concern. Situational analyses in particular areas such as health and education offer the platform on which to base such policies. It is with these notions in mind that this report concentrates on health and nutrition policy issues in particular, given the widespread efforts to collect data (in the broader study of which this report forms just one component) on the many-faceted nature of poverty in contemporary South Africa.
This chapter sets out the aims and objectives of the study as outlined in the preface, and against the preconceptions articulated above
Profile of Orange Free State (Region C)
No full textThis report is one of a series of regional studies of available statistics on living standards and development. It has been produced as part of a larger study of the South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town. The aim of this study was not to do an analysis of the statistics, but rather to report on what data is currently available in the region on a series of issues relevant to policy for poverty relief. No claim can therefore be made of completeness. Comments are made at the end of this report on the quality and sufficiency of the data. The authors follow a spatial demarcation (derived from the statistics available) in which region C is divided into four sub-regions. More than one sub-regional demarcation had to be used due to the differences in the existing research material consulted. Thus, sub-regional indicators such as Cl, C2, C3 and C4 are used as well as the terms South, West, North and East
A profile of poverty in the Durban region
No full textThis report is concerned with the generation of a poverty profile in the Durban region. For the purposes of this report, the 'Durban region' is defined as the magisterial districts of Durban, Chatsworth, Inanda, Pinetown, and Umlazi. The report draws on a wide variety of data sources, and inevitably not all of these provide data disaggregated by magisterial district. It has, therefore, been necessary on occasion to use data for greater or smaller areas, and infer conclusions for the study area. This was particularly the case for health indicators such as mortality, morbidity and nutrition status as well as for access to social services such as water, electricity, housing and transport. The lack of disaggregated data indicates the need for more integrated informational systems, both nationally and regionally
Energy poverty in South Africa: Widening access to basic energy services.
No full textThis report contains a description and analysis of the current energy consumption patterns of poor households in South Africa, and proposes a range of policies which can improve significantly the access of the poor to adequate and affordable energy services. It draws on the work of the Energy Policy Research and Training Project, a two-year policy research project involving some twenty person-years of effort, being conducted at the Energy for Development Research Centre (EDRC).The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of all the team members of the Energy Policy Research and Training Project, much of whose work is reflected in this report. Also, we would like to thank Eve MacNamara for her assistance with editing and layout of the final document
Eastern Cape/Border/Ciskei regional profile
No full textThis study is concerned with 39 magisterial districts in the Eastern Cape/Border region.
These are, as per the terms of reference of the study, Adelaide, Albany, Albert, Alexandria, Aliwal North, Bathurst, Barkley East, Bedford, Cathcart, Cradock, East London, Elliot, Fort Beaufort, Hewu, Hofmeyr, Indwe, Jansenville, Keiskammahoek, King Wiliams Town, Kirkwood, Komga, Lady Grey, Maclear, Mdantsane, Middledrift, Molteno, Mpofu (Seymour), Pearston, Peddie, Queenstown, Somerset East, Sterkstroom, Steynsberg, Sutterheim, Tarkastad, Venterstad, Victoria East, Wobdehouse and Zwelitsha