Unemployment within the South African economy has indicated to be a prominent issue with an official unemployment rate of 25.2% in the year 2013 (Statistics South Africa, 2013). The South African government released the National Growth Path that is primarily focused on creating stable economic growth, in order to create jobs as well as eradicate inequality. This is followed by the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 (IPAP2) document which includes a policy package to facilitate the specific industries that are identified for job creation (DTI, 2012). Thus, employment creation has become a real concern within the South African context. The highest percentage of total employment has remained within the services industry since 2004, at a rate above 60%. This is double the combined employment within agriculture and industry, with agriculture at 5% and industry at 25% of total employment. Thus the services industry has contributed to the highest amount of employment in South Africa. The exports of services have grown consistently since the year 2004. The largest exporter within the services industry is the travel sector, with substantial exports which peaked at 9 billion dollars in 2013. When analysing the remaining service sectors within the South African economy, it indicates that there can be a greater deal of growth in exports, with the majority of service sectors exporting less than 1 billion dollars. Export expansion can be a basis to growth in employment creation, if policy can specifically be focused towards it. Because of the demand for methods and strategy for employment creation, this study reviewed the literature regarding the effects of export expansion, as well as research methods to identify labour intensive sectors and their spill-over effects. Studies show that the increases in exports have a predominantly positive effect on employment. Furthermore, these studies also found prominent inter-linkages of services sectors within the economy. The aim of this study was to determine the most employment-intensive services sectors and their linkages with other sectors within the South African economy, in order to make recommendations for policy makers towards sustainable economic growth and job creation in the services sector. The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) used in this study model generally explains through a general table of a region or nation, by listing the regional or national economy accounting data within a square table. Thus the main goal of the SAM model was to form a comprehensive economic-wide database, which included information about all the productive activities in the economy, as well as incorporating unproductive institutions and markets, such as capital markets, factor markets, government, households and the rest of the world. The above model can thus be used to determine the link between a specific sectors expansion and the labour intensity of that sector. Furthermore, the model is not only limited to measure labour intensity, but it can also measure the specific GDP and production spill-over effects for a specific sector within the economy. Therefore, the study could analyse the spill-over effects of specific services sectors, as well as the possible employment effect it could have throughout the South African economy. The results of the study could then also be used as a strategy for export expansion and employment creation. There is currently no policy focused strategy for the services industry, which could become beneficial. The first step for the empirical analysis was to identify the services sectors which are tradable/ exportable. The following SAM services sectors are more tradable/ exportable than others in commercial terms, and thus they will be used in the analysis of this study: - Building and Construction - Trade - Accommodation - Communication - Finance and Insurance - Real Estate - Business Services - Community, Social and Personal Services In the second part of the study, the objective was to determine the most employment-intensive services sectors and its linkages with other sectors within the South African economy, in order to make recommendations for policy makers towards sustainable economic growth and job creation in the services sector. The results of this study indicated that an increase in the exports of services in South Africa has a definite impact on employment in the following sectors: - Production o Accommodation, Real Estate and Building and Construction - GDP o Accommodation, Real Estate and Building and Construction - Labour o Community, Social and Personal Services, Accommodation, and Business Services / MCom (International Trade), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Unemployment within the South African economy has indicated to be a prominent issue with an official unemployment rate of 25.2% in the year 2013 (Statistics South Africa, 2013). The South African government released the National Growth Path that is primarily focused on creating stable economic growth, in order to create jobs as well as eradicate inequality. This is followed by the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 (IPAP2) document which includes a policy package to facilitate the specific industries that are identified for job creation (DTI, 2012). Thus, employment creation has become a real concern within the South African context. The highest percentage of total employment has remained within the services industry since 2004, at a rate above 60%. This is double the combined employment within agriculture and industry, with agriculture at 5% and industry at 25% of total employment. Thus the services industry has contributed to the highest amount of employment in South Africa. The exports of services have grown consistently since the year 2004. The largest exporter within the services industry is the travel sector, with substantial exports which peaked at 9 billion dollars in 2013. When analysing the remaining service sectors within the South African economy, it indicates that there can be a greater deal of growth in exports, with the majority of service sectors exporting less than 1 billion dollars. Export expansion can be a basis to growth in employment creation, if policy can specifically be focused towards it. Because of the demand for methods and strategy for employment creation, this study reviewed the literature regarding the effects of export expansion, as well as research methods to identify labour intensive sectors and their spill-over effects. Studies show that the increases in exports have a predominantly positive effect on employment. Furthermore, these studies also found prominent inter-linkages of services sectors within the economy. The aim of this study was to determine the most employment-intensive services sectors and their linkages with other sectors within the South African economy, in order to make recommendations for policy makers towards sustainable economic growth and job creation in the services sector. The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) used in this study model generally explains through a general table of a region or nation, by listing the regional or national economy accounting data within a square table. Thus the main goal of the SAM model was to form a comprehensive economic-wide database, which included information about all the productive activities in the economy, as well as incorporating unproductive institutions and markets, such as capital markets, factor markets, government, households and the rest of the world. The above model can thus be used to determine the link between a specific sectors expansion and the labour intensity of that sector. Furthermore, the model is not only limited to measure labour intensity, but it can also measure the specific GDP and production spill-over effects for a specific sector within the economy. Therefore, the study could analyse the spill-over effects of specific services sectors, as well as the possible employment effect it could have throughout the South African economy. The results of the study could then also be used as a strategy for export expansion and employment creation. There is currently no policy focused strategy for the services industry, which could become beneficial. The first step for the empirical analysis was to identify the services sectors which are tradable/ exportable. The following SAM services sectors are more tradable/ exportable than others in commercial terms, and thus they will be used in the analysis of this study: - Building and Construction - Trade - Accommodation - Communication - Finance and Insurance - Real Estate - Business Services - Community, Social and Personal Services In the second part of the study, the objective was to determine the most employment-intensive services sectors and its linkages with other sectors within the South African economy, in order to make recommendations for policy makers towards sustainable economic growth and job creation in the services sector. The results of this study indicated that an increase in the exports of services in South Africa has a definite impact on employment in the following sectors: - Production o Accommodation, Real Estate and Building and Construction - GDP o Accommodation, Real Estate and Building and Construction - Labour o Community, Social and Personal Services, Accommodation, and Business Services / MCom (International Trade), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Uganda faces considerable challenges in revamping economic growth performance, reducing the proportional of people living below the poverty line to below 20 percent, and attaining other Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. These developments have prompted the government to prioritise poverty alleviation and the attainment of sustainable real GDP growth (i.e. at 7 percent per annum), among other policies. This dissertation argues that a proper identification of the critical sectors of growth with significant linkages to the rest of the economy can guide policy makers to affect the outcomes of external shocks (e.g. by redirecting resources to sectors with potential for higher output growth and welfare effects) .Using the 2002 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Uganda, we investigate the properties of the multipliers that can be calculated from the SAM, in particular contrasting them with the simpler input-output multipliers. Using the SAM multipliers, the computed linkages suggest that Agriculture, Food Processing, and Other Services (Trade, and Health and Education) are the key sectors of Uganda’s economy. Similarly, Manufacturing, Construction, and Transport were found to be sectors with weak linkages to the rest of the economy. Moreover, the multiplier impact on output, employment, and household income distribution is higher with in agriculture relative to other sectors. Our multiplier results confirm the need for policy makers in Uganda to target agriculture-led growth if Uganda is to substantially raise economy wide growth, and to improve household incomes for significant poverty alleviation. Policies to boost the agriculture sector include: building and maintaining feeder roads, provision of farm inputs, training farmers on better methods of production and productivity, reviving cooperatives (i.e. to enable coordinated farming activities, storage, processing, and marketing of farmers produce, and easy access to credit from lending institutions). It should be noted that Agriculture in Uganda is characterised by low productivity resulting from the use of poor inputs, undeveloped value chains, and low public and private investment in the sector. Government should significantly invest in agro-processing industries to increase value addition and exports for higher incomes. Since such investments are costly, requiring significant capital investments which majority of poor farmers cannot afford, the government should promote public-private sector partnership. It should be noted that Uganda’s exports are dominated by unprocessed primary low products which fetch low earnings from world markets. Using a country specific CGE model and selected exogenous changes and policies, our findings suggest that an increase in the world price of exports and workers remittances, and a decrease in import tariffs are growth and welfare enhancing with the positive shock to world export prices producing the largest impact on real GDP, employment (largely, low skilled labour and in agriculture), factor and household incomes. The significant role of migrant remittances in growth and poverty alleviation (i.e. by increasing household incomes, and investment in agriculture, education, and real estate among others) is worth noting. These findings suggest that Ugandan authorities could encourage Ugandans living and working abroad to invest at home by introducing a diaspora bond and sharing information on investment opportunities to encourage increased inflow of workers remittances which would boost domestic investment. Where possible, surplus labour could be exported to other regions or countries and arrangements made to have workers remittances invested in Uganda. In all the policy experiments performed, we find that the welfare of households in the northern and eastern regions of the country is lower compared to that of households based in other regions. This suggests that the government needs to design and implement specific poverty alleviation programs in these regions. The relatively high poverty in northern and eastern regions is attributed to the 19 year civil conflict and the communal land ownership which limits agriculture production for food security and improved household incomes. The government could increase the provision of social and physical infrastructure and promote sustainable agriculture by opening up irrigation schemes, supplying farmers with drought resistant crops, restocking farms, and building and maintain valley dams, and implementing land reforms which promote agriculture. Given the importance of agriculture to Uganda’s growth and poverty alleviation prospects, we argue that the government should implement the recommendations of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and the Maputo Declaration which calls for the allocation of 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture. This allocation is necessary to achieve the target of agriculture sector growth by 6 percent which is required to reduce significantly the number of Ugandans living in extreme poverty and hunger. The budgetary allocation of 4 percent coupled with inadequate supervision, and corruption and misallocation of funds meant for agriculture development programs have contributed to persistent decline in in output and increase in rural and urban poverty. Our results suggest agriculture is associated with higher employment of low skilled labour which is the largest labour force in Uganda. According to the World Bank, employment is the surest way to poverty alleviation. Thus, Uganda should pursue an agriculture led growth strategy for poverty alleviation and sustained economic growth. However, to substantially increase household incomes and contribute to poverty alleviation, policy interventions in agriculture should focus on increasing value addition through food processing and exports. Further, interventions that empower women to own assets should be enforced by government. Women are the principal users of land, and they must have stronger rights over the resources they depend upon. Our simulations have demonstrated that employment and incomes of women increase from interventions that target the agriculture sector in Uganda. Women constitute over 90 percent of the total labour force employed in agriculture and earn less or none of farm incomes, and most of them operate under chronic poverty. To gain greater knowledge of and control over their environment and build more productive sustainable systems, the government could empower women with basic education and training, increase their access to new technologies and mobilise them to participate in rural saving banks and cooperatives to boost their earnings from agriculture. Our results suggest that Services (mainly education and health) are potential candidates for growth and poverty alleviation in Uganda because they generate significant employment. However, Uganda, Services employ high skilled labour and are urban based, implying they cannot absorb the dominant low skilled labour and the youth. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda currently has about 34.5 million people of which about 65 percent are youth. About 83 percent of these youth (aged 18-30 years) have no formal employment. This calls for authorities in Uganda to reorient the current curriculum towards her development needs where the youth and graduates are trained to be job creators and not job seekers. Massive investment in vocation training where the youth are trained and equipped with skills to manage their own lives by engaging in small scale projects should be prioritised by the government. To overcome the high rate of youth and graduate unemployment in developing countries Uganda inclusive, the donor community in collaboration with African governments identified vocational training as a critical component in each country’s poverty reduction strategy.

Social accounting matrix (SAM) is one of the tools used in regional economic analysis, enabling understanding the structure of the economy as well as analyzing the impacts of policies or exogenous shocks. In this thesis, a two-region SAM of Turkey is constructed for the year 2002 and the findings of multiplier analysis are presented. To this end, first, a two-region input-output (I-O) table is constructed using location quotient (LQ) method and using this two-region I-O table, a two-region SAM is compiled. Then, multiplier analysis is performed on the two-region SAM constructed. According to the results of the multiplier analysis, through an exogenous shock amounting to 1% of GDP gives better results both in absolute and distributional terms when it is originated in region East than region West. This thesis should construct a first step towards more comprehensive analyses including higher level of sectoral detail and micro-data.

Univ., Diss.--Hohenheim, 2007.

Univ., Diss.--Copenhagen, 2005. / Enth. 7 Beitr.

The majority of the people in sub-Saharan Africa depend on natural and planted forests for subsistence use and income generation. Despite this, the status of forests and wood-processing industries and their multiple uses are poorly understood. In Ethiopia information on the status and contribution of the forest and wood-processing industries to economic development is scanty and fragmented. The study was designed to contribute to filling this gap by analysing the status of the forest resource, assessing the contribution of the forest and wood-processing industries to the national economy with emphasis on the cost structure, and identifying innovations in the wood-processing industries. The study was further developed scenarios to upgrade wood product supply in Ethiopia. The study focuses on the macro-level analysis complementing same with micro-level data that looks into wood-processing industries of the country. Cluster analysis and innovation systems are frameworks employed in collecting and analysing both primary and secondary data. Secondary data on forests in Ethiopia are generally lacking. The analysis was conducted using data from 2010 as the reference year. The year 2010 was chosen as it is the only year for which the most recent aggregated social accounting matrix table for Ethiopia was available. Primary data were collected from key informant interviews and by undertaking survey in selected wood processing industries. A consultation workshop was conducted with different stakeholders to develop alternative scenarios regarding options to meet national wood demands and to share and validate findings of the study. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means, and percentages. The qualitative information gathered was summarised, analysed, and interpreted in the form of narratives. The study covered the six major forest types in Ethiopia from which significant wood volume is collected. The volume of wood reported to be harvested from these forests exceeded the annual incremental yield, indicating widening of the gap between supply and demand over time. The estimated wood product gap was 39 million m³ in 2013. The expanding gap between supply and demand of wood products in Ethiopia led to rapid increment in the volume of wood products imported, from 17,750 m3 in 1997 to 128,914 m3 in 2017. The estimated economic contribution of the forest sector and wood-processing industries in 2010 to the GDP was 4.2% and 0.036%, respectively. Regarding labour composition, both forest and wood-processing industries are dependent on unskilled labour with the respective share of 44.6% and 40.4%. The results also show that the forest sector has a strong linkage with the domestic economy, with 99.95% share as the input source. Wood-processing industries are mainly dependent on imported raw materials with a share of 51.6% of inputs. If the multiplier effect of the forest sector is considered, its contribution to the GDP could increase by up to 72%. Thus, a unit increment in the forest and wood-processing industries will have a multiplier effect on household income by 1.35 and 0.43, respectively. It is the non-poor households in small urban settlements that would benefit more in both cases. The strong forward and backward linkages of the forest sector indicated the potential of forests to support the national economic development as compared to the wood processing industries that showed a weak backward linkage due to its dependency on imported raw material, high price of round wood from domestic markets, and underdevelopment of plantation forestry in Ethiopia. Production factors related and supporting sectors, and government supports were found to be the constraining factors that affect the competitiveness of studied wood processing industries. The demand for wood products has a positive influence on the competitiveness of wood processing industries. The cost structure analysis showed variations with the types of wood processing industries. Raw material was the main input cost for the Ethiopian Chip Wood and Furniture Company (43%), and Ethiopian Plywood Enterprise (51%), while the overhead cost was the main costs (76%) for the Arsi Negelle sawmill. Imported chemicals raised the cost of the studied panel industries. However, the Arsi Negelle sawmill incurs a relatively low cost for raw material. This is because the Arsi Negelle sawmill uses its own plantations nearby the industry, which reduces the transportation cost. The analysis of sectoral innovation system actors indicated weak implementation of the expected roles. They are also poorly networked with the wood-processing industries. The identified constraining factors for innovation activities also include out-dated machines, lack of incentives for the employees, limited skilled manpower, insufficient financial resources, and inadequacy in research and development. Innovation activities identified are processing and marketing innovations in Maichew particleboard and Mitike sawmill, respectively. The introduction of innovation contributed to increasing the number of customers, revenue generated, jobs created, and volume of products sold. More innovation activities were identified in privately owned than in state-owned factories. Three scenarios were developed in identifying and examining prevailing options to reduce the gap between supply and demand of wood products in the country. These are business-as-usual, the government plan, and the independent experts’ opinion scenarios. The business-as-usual scenario assumes that no major change will happen in the forest sector. This scenario assumed that the main problems remain the same and the supply-demand gap will widen using the current trend. The government plan scenario assumes that the country will build a climate-resilient green economy by 2030 as envisages in its CRGE strategy issued in 2011. In this scenario, significant investment is expected to reduce the gap. Official records show that between 2016 and 2019, the production of wood products increased and reached 8,703,439 m³ and revenue collection grew to 9,352,816 USD. Despite this, supply-demand gap continued to widen, resulting in increased importation of various wood products. The independent experts’ scenario was developed based on the assessment of the unsustainability of the first scenario and the ambitious and unrealistic goals of the second scenario. The scenario of experts considered factors that will improve or undermine production and productivity of forests and meet demands for biomass fuel, industrial wood, and small diameter poles. As per this scenario, sustainable wood product supply is expected to increase and imports to be reduced by 20% in the coming decade. Scenarios developed provided insights for policymakers and suggested the need for strategic planning for developing forest resources and wood industries in the country. Measures to transform the forest sector and wood processing industries of Ethiopia need to consider their contribution and multiplier effects to the national economy. Regarding theoretical aspects, the thesis demonstrated there are some limitations associated with Social Accounting Matrix data quality, which limits the ability to interpret the forward and backward linkages. Yet, the analysis revealed that there is weak cooperation among innovation systems actors to work together. The study hopes to form the basis for further studies and proposed areas for future research to improve the economic contribution of forests and wood processing industries to the national economy.:1 Introduction 2 Theoretical concepts and analytical framework 3 Methodological framework 4 Overview of the forestry sector and its contribution to the national economy 5 Competitiveness and cost structure analysis of wood-processing industries in Ethiopia 6 Innovation system and innovations in the wood-processing industries of Ethiopia 7 Scenario development to upgrade the wood product supply in Ethiopia 8 Synthesis and conclusion References

Reduced-impact logging (RIL) was identified as a measure, complementary to other identified measures, which can contribute to Indonesia reducing emissions from forestry and forest degradation (REDD+). In this light, the research was aimed to investigate the economy-wide impact of implementing RIL on the economy, which was studied at the district level. For this purpose, an expert opinion survey method was integrated with Berau computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The expert opinion survey was utilised to: (i) generate information and confirm the impact of implementing RIL on logging costs, and (ii) obtain an estimate of the incentive required by logging companies to maintain the practice of RIL. Results of this approach provided input to the Berau CGE model. In addition, multiple ways of data gathering were employed to develop the dataset required for the general equilibrium analysis. Simulation results suggest that the economic impact of implementing RIL policy is negative but small on the Berau economy compared to a situation where the RIL is not implemented. Worker households (particularly agricultural worker households) are worse off and non-agricultural households are better off. Furthermore, providing compensation, which was simulated as a logging output- based subsidy, can improve the Berau economy, although to only a lesser degree. The RIL policy causes a significant negative impact on logging output which further leads to output reduction in forest-based and pulp & paper industries. The policy implementation, however, simulates production increase in other agricultural activities, notably in oil palm plantation. Furthermore, results simulations with the logging output-based subsidy suggest the magnitude of economic impacts is reduced from what would otherwise occur in the scenario of implementing RIL only (no subsidy is provided). The RIL policy also seems to result in ̳unexpected‘ emissions leakage indicated by increases in output of some agricultural-based activities such as oil palm plantation, other estate crops, and food crops. Increase in emissions is also expected to occur outside the Berau District stimulated by the increase in the District‘s import of timber.

Este trabalho analisa a estrutura socioeconômica da produção de etanol no Brasil tendo como enfoque o uso de fatores primários de produção terra, capital e trabalho e as relações entre este setor e as demais atividades da economia. Para tanto, utilizou informações do Sistema de Contas Nacionais SCN, publicado pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística IBGE, para estimar uma matriz insumoproduto para o ano 2004. Esta matriz foi desagregada em 142 contas com destaque para a desagregação do setor sucroalcooleiro em quatro atividades: dois tipos de canade- açúcar (de alta e baixa produtividade relativa), etanol e açúcar. Além disso, desagregou-se o fator primário de produção trabalho em dez categorias salariais e o consumo das famílias em 10 categorias de renda. Tal desagregação utilizou os microdados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios PNAD e da Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares - POF, ambas também publicadas pelo IBGE. Posteriormente, foi estimada uma matriz de contabilidade social e calculado seus multiplicadores contábeis em sua forma decomposta em efeitos transferência (transfer), intergrupos (open-loop) e extragrupo (closed-loop). A análise desses multiplicadores mostrou que choques exógenos de demanda no setor sucroalcooleiro provoca impactos relevantes sobre o próprio setor e sobre a indústria química, farmacêutica, de cosméticos, de alimentos e dos refinados de petróleo, mostrando que este setor tem uma cadeia produtiva relativamente pouco extensa. Porém, este setor tem importância estratégica no que tange a política de empregos uma vez que utiliza grande número de trabalhadores de baixa qualificação e de pequenos produtores rurais. Este trabalho constata, ainda, que a incorporação de tecnologia à cultura da cana-de-açúcar, além de torná-la mais produtiva, a torna mais rentável; que a intensidade de criação de emprego é maior na produção de cana-de-açúcar de menor produtividade; e, que a produção de etanol tem efeito multiplicativo relativamente intenso para capital, de forma que pode trazer boas remunerações aos investidores neste setor. Uma simulação foi realizada considerando dois cenários: aumento de produção de etanol em 204,55% e aumento de consumo das famílias e exportações em 166,15% e 412,5%, respectivamente, respeitando as projeções de agentes do setor. Estas simulações confirmaram a análise obtida por meio dos multiplicadores da matriz de contabilidade social e mostraram, finalmente, a importância dos efeitos intergrupo e extragrupo na economia, dado que o resultado obtido pela exogeinização da consumo das famílias foi menor que o esperado. / This work analyses the social and economical structure of ethanol production in Brazil focusing the primary production factors use land, capital and labor and the relationship among this sector and other economic activities. It is used national accounting system information, published by Brazilian Geography and Statistic Institute (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística IBGE), to estimate an input-output matrix to year of 2004. This matrix has been disaggregated in 142 accounts with highlight for sugarcane industry disaggregation in four economic activities: two kind of sugarcane (one with high productivity and another with low productivity), ethanol and sugar. Besides that, the primary production factor Labor has been disaggregated in ten wage categories and the household consumption, also, in ten outcome categories. Such disaggregation has used the micro-data of National Household Sample Research (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios PNAD) and Household Budget Research (Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares POF), both also published by IBGE. After that, a Social Accounting Matrix and its decompounded accounting multipliers have been estimated. The multipliers analysis shows exogenous shocks in sugarcane industry demand cause relevant impacts on own sector and on chemical, medicines, cosmetics, food and oil by products industries, showing that such industry has a production chain relatively small. But, this sector has strategic importance on employment policy because use a high number of employees with low qualification level and small farmers. This work checked that an increasing in technology use in sugarcane growing, besides that became them more productive, become them more profitable. However, the intensity of job creation is higher in low productivity sugarcane production. The ethanol production has multiplicative effect relatively intensive to capital and, hence, it can bring good remunerations for investors. A simulation has been realized considering two scenarios: increasing in ethanol production in 204,55% and an increasing of household consumptions and exports in 166,15% and 412,5%, respectively, considering some sector agents expectations. Such simulation confirmed the analyses obtained through social accounting matrix multipliers and shows, finally, the open-loop and closed-loop effects importance in accordance with the household consumptions exogenation results lower than expected.

This research study focuses on providing evidence that indicates that, making use of contemporary green building practices within a low cost subsidised housing project have more social, economical as well as environmental benefits than that of a conventional, non-green approach. Low cost subsidised housing units have become an everyday sight in the light of the global as well as the local economy. The increasing levels of unemployment and subsequent social problems lead to growing needs for this form of housing. As these projects consume a number of resources, steps need be taken to lighten the load – such as the carbon emissions - that is put on the environment. According to the United Nations, the key areas that are influenced by sustainability are environmental, economical as well as social. In South Africa, a number of government as well as local policies exist that regulates the planning and building practices of the low cost subsidised housing projects. These policies have been used as a foundation for this study. This study focuses on the Lufhereng project as a case study, and technology used in the Kuyasa as well as Cosmo City developments furthermore assisted in the groundwork for the comparison between the different construction approaches. The challenges facing the utilisation of a contemporary green building approach were researched, identified, discussed and recommendations were made. SAM (social accounting matrix) multiplier analysis on the Gauteng SAM obtained from the DBSA (Development Bank of South Africa), analysis and comparison of existing data as well as a qualitative questionnaire that was sent to industry stakeholders were utilised to obtain relevant information. The quantitative as well as qualitative data obtained from the primary as well as secondary research indicated that there are a number of aspects which has an influence on method of construction used in subsidised low cost housing units. The findings from literature as well as empirical research were analysed and discussed accordingly. Recommendations and suggestions regarding strategies that may be followed to increase the use of contemporary green approaches in these projects were made. These recommendations were based on the findings from literature as well as the research conducted for this study. The use of contemporary green approaches are vital for the social, economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country, and thus, ultimately of the world as a whole. It is, in this light, imperative that everything in our power should be done to preserve our resources by any means possible. / PhD (Urban and Regional Planning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013