J2 | Economic Research Southern Africa

Rising unemployment in post-apartheid South Africa: temporary or persistent?

The fact that South Africa’s high unemployment rate continued to rise during the first decade after the political transition – and this despite the same period coinciding with the economy’s longest business cycle upswing – suggests that the labour market was undergoing a shift of its own to a new high unemployment equilibrium, that was […]

How do we explain the persistently high rate of unemployment in South Africa? Exploring Preference Shifts in Capital and Labour Demand

Our research attempted to quantify the magnitude of shifts in industry preferences between capital and labour in the South African economy over the period 2007 to 2013. This research also aimed to help explain the country’s persistently high rate of unemployment. Over this period real GDP growth averaged 3.5% with average employment growth of only […]

Father’s Employment and Sons’ Stature: The Long Run Effects of a Positive Regional Employment Shock in South Africa’s Mining Industry

It is now well known that early life environmental conditions affect a person’s well-being over their lifetime. Adult height outcomes provide a valuable window into a person’s in utero and early childhood nutritional intake such that within the same genetic group taller individuals have been exposed to higher quality nutritional intake. Height is important in […]

The characteristics of volunteers in South Africa

Volunteers are people who supply labour for the production of goods and services, for the benefit of others. Volunteer work is of significance in a time when social safety nets are weak and there are ever increasing demands on welfare organisations. The question is, who are these good Samaritans? This paper uses data from the […]

A country of migrants: Advances in South African economic history

South Africa is a country of migrants. From the Bantu migration, the arrival of Dutch settlers in the seventeenth century and British settlers in the nineteenth century to the internal movement of black tribes after the Mfecane, the Great Trek of settler farmers, and the inflow of African workers to the mines, South African history […]

US Trade and Wages: The Misleading Implications of Conventional Trade Theory

Conventional trade theory, which combines the Heckscher-Ohlin theory and the Stolper- Samuelson theorem, implies that expanded trade between developed and developing countries will increase wage equality in the former. This theory is widely applied. It serves as the basis for estimating the impact of trade on wages using two-sector simulation models and the net factor […]

Trade liberalisation and labour demand within South African manufacturing firms

Using new detailed tariff data, wages disaggregated by skill level and firm level information, this paper ascertains the relationships between trade, technology and labour demand and investigates the effects of tariff changes on factor prices in South African manufacturing. We find evidence that trade liberalization and technological change have affected the skill structure of employment. […]