Gender differences in labor markets and within households have been investigated by researchers for a long time. This dissertation adds new findings to the body of gender-related empirical studies on labor markets and demographic decisions. The first essay deals with the firm size selection behavior of workers and the firms' employment patterns by size in the United States. Using the Current Population Survey, I find that the changes in firm size distribution show different trends by gender between 1987 and 2001. While the percentage of female workers in large firms has increased gradually, that of male workers has hardly changed over time. These trends are not explained by changes in the distribution of demographic and job characteristics alone. I also find that the gender gaps in size-wage premia of workers in large firms decline over the period studied. Using these results, I show that gender wage convergence is partly accounted for by the changes in size distribution and size premia. The second essay examines how internet use affects job search and match outcomes of young workers in South Korea. Using the Youth Panel surveyed in 2001, I find that workers successfully employed through internet search have a significant wage premium over those employed through traditional methods, except for referrals or social networks. The positive wage effect is pronounced among women and previously unemployed workers. I also find that new employees who have ever searched online for jobs are more likely to search for other jobs. The third essay focuses on an idiosyncratic social norm and its effects on demographic outcomes. South Koreans have traditionally considered that the year of the Horse bears inauspicious implications for the birth of daughters. Using monthly longitudinal data at the region level between 1970 and 2003, I find that in the year of the Horse, the sex ratio at birth significantly increases while fertility decreases. The last essay examines how family cultural values, proxied by lunar calendar use for birthday, affect young individuals' marriage and fertility decisions in South Korea. Employing the Youth Panel, I find that young people with lunar birthdays, regardless of gender, are more likely to be married. More interestingly, young married men with lunar birthdays are more likely to have children, while young married women are not influenced by the tradition. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that young men from more traditional families enter into early marriages and that they are more likely to have offspring at earlier ages. / text

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of the research is to compare the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies with the profitability and size of the top 100 companies over a four year period. The research is limited to the availability of quality information on employees in the financial statements of companies. A literature study is followed by an emperical inquiry into a comparison of the reporting on employees with the profitability and size of companies. The results reflect the following: * the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies does not inevitably show an increase; * a significant relationship exist between the size and profitability of companies; * the role of reporting on the employees of companies is significant with regards to profit determination; and * some of the companies performed uniquely with regards to the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies. / Accounting / M.Comm.(Accounting)

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of the research is to compare the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies with the profitability and size of the top 100 companies over a four year period. The research is limited to the availability of quality information on employees in the financial statements of companies. A literature study is followed by an emperical inquiry into a comparison of the reporting on employees with the profitability and size of companies. The results reflect the following: * the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies does not inevitably show an increase; * a significant relationship exist between the size and profitability of companies; * the role of reporting on the employees of companies is significant with regards to profit determination; and * some of the companies performed uniquely with regards to the quantity and quality of reporting on the employees of companies. / Accounting / M.Comm.(Accounting)

M.Comm. / South Africa's new political dispensation has indicated that it regards unbundling of conglomerates and antitrust policy as appropriate means to ensure black empowerment and create wealth among the victums of the apartheid-era. Unbundling will however not necessarily aid the distribution of wealth due to the existing shareholder structure in the country. The creation of an entrepreneural class is seen as an effective means to alleviate the jobless problem and empower the masses, but will be difficult to establish without help from government, and more importantly, big business. PURPOSE The main purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of bundling and current business size and how black empowerment and wealth creation can be addressed through new structures. METHOD OF STUDY In this study information was obtained from existing literature sourced from the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Small Business Development Corporation, investment community, Business Periodical Index and libraries at Rand Afrikaans University and University of South Africa. FINDINGS The historic reasons for current business size are essentially the same as those in the rest of the world, with the exception that politics played a major role in South Africa. The exclusion of certain population groups led to political instability and the sanctions-era, which increased the tendency for big business to bundle or form conglomerates. Evidence exists that unbundling will not create wealth by distributing ownership of companies but could in fact only benefit existing shareholders. Black empowerment and wealth creation can be established by the forming of new pyramid-structures and the creation of an entrepreneural class with help from existing conglomerates and government. South Africa is part of the international economic environment and needs big businesses in order to be competitive. Small businesses on the other hand can be utilized to address the unemployment problem especially in rural areas. Conglomerates can assist small businesses with mangement and finance which should prove to be a better alternative in the long run than unbundling.

Institute for Rural Development / PhDRDV / Studies conducted in some parts of the world have highlighted the fact that Asian-owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) always thrive better than those that other racial groups own. For example, a Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study revealed that in South Africa, Blacks owned few businesses and rarely took advantage of the entrepreneurial opportunities available to them even though there are policies that underpin the promotion of SMME. The aim of this study was to compare the determinants of performance of Asian and Black-owned small supermarkets in Thulamela Local Municipality. Specific objectives of the study were to: (1) assess the indicators of performance of small supermarkets; (2) compare the performance factors of Asian- and Black-owned small supermarkets; and (3) suggest intervention strategies to improve the performance of the small supermarkets. A cross-sectional study underpinned by a mixed methods approach and techniques was applied in two sequentially integrated phases. The first phase was qualitative in nature and participants were officials from the Local Economic Development units in Thulamela Local and Vhembe District Municipalities, representatives of Associations of Business Owners, Blacks (Venda and Shangaan speaking) small supermarket owners and Asian (Indians/Pakistanis and Chinese) small supermarket owners. Snowball sampling was used to select interviewees. Data was analysed using the Atlas- ti.7.0.81 software. The second phase was quantitative in nature. Small supermarket owners who were involved during qualitative phase also participated in phase two. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) ver 24.0 for windows. Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to establish if there were differences in the perceptions of participants due to race, gender and geographic location. The indicators of success commonly mentioned were number of employees, profit, survival of the business over a long period, and stock or inventory and growths. Asian-owned small supermarkets were performing better because they used more effective and efficient purchasing plus supply systems. Their collectivist culture and networking abilities made them realise higher levels of efficiency when purchasing goods compared to the Black entrepreneurs. Black-owned small supermarkets were performing poorly because of their weak entrepreneurship culture, human capital and business ties. Unfair competition from spaza shops negatively affected their performance. Other factors hindering the performance of the latter were crime and rigid labour laws. In small supermarkets owned by Asians, shoplifting and burglaries were monitored using surveillance cameras during the day. Security companies were deployed during night hours. iii Regarding perception of motivation to start a business, there were significant differences due to race of small supermarket owners and location or area of operation (P < 0.05). Significant differences in perception (P < 0.05) among the races and due to gender and location were attributed to the culture of business owners. Effects of social capital on performance of small supermarkets were reported (P < 0.01). Based on the findings of this study, small supermarket owners should strengthen their human capital through participating in training programmes, especially on supply chain management, marketing and financing. The need for creating networks that help to access information needed to take advantage of the support from the state institutions and the non-governmental sector was evident. Thus, it was concluded that improved performance of small supermarkets could be realised through strengthening human capital, joint purchasing, establishing effective networks and diversifying business activities.