We begin by summarising the literature that has assessed medium-run changes in poverty and inequality in South Africa using census data. According to this literature, over the 1996 to 2001 period both poverty and inequality increased. In this paper we assesses the robustness of these results to...

This paper analyses labour market behaviour of the elderly in South Africa, focusing on the Black/African population group. The analysis uses data from the 2001 census and 1996 census, the Labour Force Surveys for September 2000 and 2001, and the Income and Expenditure Survey for 2000. Findings...

Sustainable poverty reduction requires that poor households effectively manage risk. The absence of basic financial services is a major obstacle to poverty reduction in South Africa. This paper reviews available South African literature on utilisation of formal and informal risk management...

The paper analyses poverty and inequality changes in South Africa for the period 1996 to 2001 using Census data. To gain a broader picture of wellbeing in South Africa, both income-based and access-based measurement approaches are employed. At the national level, findings from the income-based...

Using data from a detailed chronic poverty survey of three South African communities, this paper compares the correlations between traditional (i.e. income and expenditure) and wealth-based measures of poverty in ranking households as poor as well as their ability to explain additional...

This paper examines the impact of formality of employment on the utilisation of financial services, using data from the October 2000 Income and Expenditure Survey and the September 2000 Labour Force Survey. The presence of an employed member in the household is seen to be important for the...

This paper investigates changes in and patterns of income inequality in South Africa during the post-apartheid period 1994 to 2004. While findings show a rapidly growing high-income African population (a trend that began before 1994 and continued thereafter) as well as rising real wages for...

This paper explores firm-level responses to HIV/AIDS. Case studies of seven small manufacturing firms on the Cape Flats failed to record any reported HIV prevalence or any perceived increases in costs due to HIV/AIDS for any of the firms interviewed. However, an interesting picture of labour...

This paper examines the performance of public works in addressing both micro and macroeconomic policy objectives relating to growth, employment and poverty reduction in South Africa. The microeconomic analysis suggests that while participation in a public works programme may contribute to a...

While the political transition to democratic rule in South Africa was smooth and rapid, the economic transition has been slow and difficult. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the labour market. Job creation has not matched the growing labour supply and the unemployment rate continues to...