M.A. / The objective of this study is to estimate the productivity of labour in the South African textile industry. This was achieved by firstly looking at the theoretical background which will facilitate the calculation of labour productivity. The Cobb-Douglas production function was found to be most suitable to estimate labour productivity in the South African textile industry. Conditions necessary and sufficient for equilibrium to hold were explored which gave an indication on efficiency in the allocation of input factors , capital and labour. South African textile industry's performance over the years has been influenced by the changing trade policies brought about by the Uruguay round of talks of 15 December 1993. The talks concluded that countries should reduce tariffs and embark on export-led growth. Exporters should have free access to imported intermediate inputs and countries should do away with anti export bias associated with import protection. Inevitably the South African textiles industry was affected by the conclusions drawn at the Uruguay Round of talks. The textile industry which had enjoyed growth under high protection tariffs and other import duties had shed down the high tariffs and liberalise trade. But the tariff reductions had to happen over the period ranging between five and twelve years. This further implied that export incentive schemes will have to be eliminated as they were in contradiction with GATT Agreement so, R2 billion that the government had budgeted for the General Export Incentive Scheme will have to be dispensed with and according to GATT South Africa has been given three years to dispose of the export incentive scheme. ix The long term strategy for the textile industry was formulated as an industrial strategy to prepare the industry for the changing policies. The long term objectives emphasised on achieving international competitiveness, labour demanding growth to foster employment in the textile industry and lastly to supply local consumers with textiles at affordable prices. But it should be noted that trying to gain international competitiveness imply laying off workers as new technology comes in. This is in contradiction with the Industrial strategy which advocates for labour absorbing economic growth in the textile industry especially in the light of the fact that employment has been on the decline over the years and it is expected that the new industrial strategy, will be able to create more jobs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:9195 |
| Date | 14 August 2012 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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