South Africa faces significant challenges with low economic growth and high unemployment rates. Unemployed individuals find it difficult to enter into the informal and formal sectors and are often required to work as day labourers. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the human capital theory can provide an explanation for the determinants of wages of day labourers. A focus was placed on the relationships between wages and education, wages and training, wages and skills, and wages and experience. Using cross-sectional data from a survey conducted in 2007/2008, a regression analysis of these relationships was performed. The results showed that earnings increase with an increase in educational level. Day labourers who completed primary and secondary schooling earn more than day labourers who have had no schooling. The day labourers who completed a post-school qualification realised the highest returns in wages. A small percentage of day labourers indicated that they completed a form of training. A pattern was evident of day labourers with higher levels of education engaging in training that is associated with scarce work that requires higher levels of skills and that is more likely to pay higher wages. Work in the skilled cluster was found to be positively and significantly associated with wages. Day labourers who are able to do a variety of jobs are also likely to earn higher earnings. Experience was represented by the number of years an individual has worked as a day labourer and was found to be negatively associated with wages. The findings of this paper confirm that most of the human capital theory can be applied to explain the wages of day labourers in South Africa. / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

South Africa faces significant challenges with low economic growth and high unemployment rates. Unemployed individuals find it difficult to enter into the informal and formal sectors and are often required to work as day labourers. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the human capital theory can provide an explanation for the determinants of wages of day labourers. A focus was placed on the relationships between wages and education, wages and training, wages and skills, and wages and experience. Using cross-sectional data from a survey conducted in 2007/2008, a regression analysis of these relationships was performed. The results showed that earnings increase with an increase in educational level. Day labourers who completed primary and secondary schooling earn more than day labourers who have had no schooling. The day labourers who completed a post-school qualification realised the highest returns in wages. A small percentage of day labourers indicated that they completed a form of training. A pattern was evident of day labourers with higher levels of education engaging in training that is associated with scarce work that requires higher levels of skills and that is more likely to pay higher wages. Work in the skilled cluster was found to be positively and significantly associated with wages. Day labourers who are able to do a variety of jobs are also likely to earn higher earnings. Experience was represented by the number of years an individual has worked as a day labourer and was found to be negatively associated with wages. The findings of this paper confirm that most of the human capital theory can be applied to explain the wages of day labourers in South Africa. / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

L'emploi informel est devenu un sérieux défi pour l'économie ukrainienne et des pays en transition au cours de l'adaptation aux conditions du marché. La tendance du nombre de travailleurs qui participent au secteur informel est en hausse depuis les dernières années. Dans mes recherches, je vais présenter l'état actuel de l'emploi informel en Ukraine et les pays en transition. Une attention particulière est accordée à la répartition du travail entre les différentes catégories de population, en divisant les individus en cinq catégories (employés formels, employés informels, travailleurs indépendants formels, travailleurs indépendants informels et chômeurs) selon la définition de l'emploi informel de l'OIT. Nous examinons le marché du travail en utilisant les données de Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey pour l'Ukraine et Survey on Living and Income Conditions pour les pays en transition et nous élaborons la fonction des gains du capital humain pour le marché du travail en appliquant la fonction de répartition des gains de Mincer, afin d'étudier les facteurs qui déterminent les revenus et le choix de l'emploi de l'individu en Ukraine et les pays en transition. / Informal employment became a serious challenge for the Ukrainian economy and economy of transition countries during the adjustment to market conditions. Trends of the number of workers participating in the informal sector have been rising for the last years. In my research I will present the current state of informal employment of Ukraine and transition countries. Detailed attention is paid to labour distribution across different population categories by dividing the individuals into five categories (formal employee, informal employee, formal self-employed, informal self-employed and unemployed) following the definition of informal employment from the ILO. We examine labour market using the data of the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for Ukraine and the Survey on Living and Income Conditions for transition countries and we design human capital earnings function for labour market by applying Mincer earnings distribution function in order to investigate the factors that determine the individual’s earnings and choice of the employment status both for Ukraine and transition countries.