Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The welfare challenge that faces South Africa in the post-apartheid period is, at its
core, defined by the high levels of poverty and inequality in the society. The
labour market, as a provider of wages to individuals and ultimately households,
remains the key transmitter of these poverty and inequality outcomes in the
society. This specific line of reasoning is the underlying intellectual thrust of this
thesis: namely that the state of poverty and inequality in a society is mirrored by,
and perhaps more strongly - determined and shaped - by the state of its labour
market. The thesis therefore focuses in the first instance on employment trends in
South Africa since 1970, across two discrete time periods. The intention is to
sketch the changing patterns of labour demand in South Africa, with a particular
focus on how these patterns have yielded differential gains for different
occupation, race, gender and education cohorts. Ultimately, these uneven
employment patterns remain one of the most significant factors shaping South
Africa's poverty and inequality challenges. The inequality challenge, so often
thought of in terms of households only, is analysed here purely in terms of the
employed. The starting point once again, is that it is precisely these earnings that
contribute to the extraordinarily high inequality levels in South Africa. This
analysis imparts information about the manner in which intra-employed wage
inequality is structured and furthermore, how South Africa compares in the
international context. A major contribution of the thesis is to, through more
formal measures of poverty, apply these to labour market-defined individuals,
rather than households, which is the norm in the literature. The point of departure
is of course that poverty, or vulnerability, expresses itself through individuals in
the labour market, and is thereby transmitted at the household level. Hence a
significant component of the dissertation attempts a formal measurement and
modelling of the degree of poverty and vulnerability in the South African labour
market. These welfare challenges for a society though, should not only be
analysed, but rather solved as well. Hence the final two chapters of the
dissertation attempts to examine two very recent policy options mooted in South
Africa, and through using simulation techniques, attempts to estimate both the
costs and benefits of instituting these two alternatives which are explicitly aimed
at reducing poverty, vulnerability and inequality in the society. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika se welvaartsvraagstuk in die na-apartheidsperiode word deur die hoë
vlakke van armoede en ongelykheid in die samelewing bepaal. Die arbeidsmark, as
voorsiener van lone aan individue en uiteindelik ook huishoudings, is die
belangrikste bepaler van die oordrag van armoede- en ongelykheidsuitkomste in die
samelewing. Die sleuteluitgangspunt van hierdie proefskrif is dat die stand van
armoede en ongelykheid in 'n samelewing in sy arbeidsmark weerspieël en selfs
daardeur bepaal en gevorm word. Die proefskrif fokus daarom veralop Suid-
Afrikaanse indiensnemingstendense sedert die sewentigerjare, in twee diskrete
periodes. Die doel is om die veranderende Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsvraagpatroon te
skets, veral die ongelyke voordele wat hierdie patrone vir verskillende beroeps-,
rasse-, gestags- en opvoedkundige groepe meegebring het. Hierdie ongelyke
indiensnemingspatrone is uiteindelik belangrike determinante van Suid-Afrika se
armoede- en ongelykheidsvraagstuk. Hierdie analise verskaf inligting omtrent die
struktuur van loonongelykheid onder werkendes en hoe Suid-Afrika internasionaal
vergelyk. 'n Belangrike bydrae is die toepassing van formele armoedemaatstawwe
op individue in die arbeidsmark, eerder as die konvensionele toepassing op
huishoudings. Die uitgangspunt is natuurlik dat armoede of weerloosheid in die
arbeidsmark op die vlak van die individu ervaar word, en dat dit daarna na die
huishouding oorgedra word. Daarom is 'n groot deel van die proefskrif op die
formele meting en modellering van die omvangvan armoede en weerloosheid in die
Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsmark toegespits. Hierdie welsynsvraagstukke moet natuurlik
nie net ontleed word nie, maar ook opgelos word. Daarom poog die laaste twee
hoofstukke om die implikasies van twee onlangse beleidsvoorstelle te ontleed. Deur
simulasietegnieke word probeer om die kostes en voordele van hierdie twee
alternatiewe beleidsvoorstelle gemik op die vermindering van armoede,
ongelykheid en weerloosheid in die samelewing te beraam.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/53405 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Bhorat, Haroon |
| Contributors | Van der Berg, S., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 214, [2] p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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