Rising unemployment in South Africa : an intertemporal analysis using a Birth Cohort Panel
Date
2007-03
Authors
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
A new political dispensation in 1994 heralded a period of optimism for many ordinary South
Africans, who hoped for freedom and an escape from poverty. Since this transition, however,
South Africa has registered steady increases in unemployment, which was already high and
widespread at that stage. The new policy environment introduced a mix of legislation which
changed the way in which South African society was to be structured: separate development
was abandoned, the pillars of Apartheid dismantled, and equitable access to education and
jobs was enacted. At the same time, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP),
as well as the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) document addressed, amongst
other issues, socioeconomic and labour market disparities. Economic growth was to bolster
employment generation. Rising unemployment is, in light of these diverse changes, a source
of considerable concern to labour market participants and policymakers alike: the benefits of
better understanding the dynamic forces at play are potentially large. Given the many and farreaching
changes referred to above, it is a complex task to disentangle specific reasons for the
outcomes realised in the labour market, and more so the manner in which these have
interacted to arrive at the status quo...
Description
Thesis (MComm (Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
Keywords
Unemployment -- South Africa, Labor market -- South Africa, South Africa -- Economic conditions, Dissertations -- Economics, Theses -- Economics, Assignments -- Economics