This paper investigates the difficulties in measuring reservation wages, models the determinants of reservation wages, and compares reservation wages with predicted wages. Data is drawn from the Khayelitsha/Mitchell's Plain (KMP) survey. Certain factors (e.g. education, labour market status,...

This paper provides a rough guide to the labour force in Khayelitsha/Mitchell's Plain with a particular focus on unemployment. The task is partly conceptual (a discussion is provided on statistical norms for measuring unemployment) and partly empirical. Data is drawn from the 2000/2001...

Unemployment has been rising in South Africa for the last three decades, leading to official unemployment rates of 26.4% (37% if the broad definition is used). This implies a jobless total of 7 million, with more than 40% of the rural population unemployed, and the development of a growing pool...

A new data set called the Financial Diaries has been produced, based on a sample of 166 households, drawn from three different areas (Langa, Lugangeni and Diepsloot), from a range of dwelling types and wealth categories. A unique methodology was used to create a year-long daily data set of every...

This paper explores the ability of public works programmes (PWPs) to promote employment and reduce poverty. Public works are a key component of the current social protection framework in South Africa, constituting the only significant form of social support for the able-bodied working age...

It is important to stress that this paper's aim is not to argue substantively against a basic income grant policy. Rather, it proposes that the necessary homework has to be identified first; then appropriate research conducted as the second step; before, thirdly, any policy advocacy is...

The aim of this paper is to further improve the understanding of income generation among the formerly underprivileged and often impoverished majority of households in South Africa. This study uses household survey data for the analysis of households' integration into the South African core...

While in many African countries, open unemployment is largely confined to urban areas and thus overall rates are quite low, in South Africa (and a few other Southern African countries), open unemployment rates hover around 30%, with rural unemployment rates being even higher than that. This...

There are two major economic and social security challenges facing South Africa: addressing large-scale unemployment and the AIDS pandemic. As of 2003, an estimated 14% of all South Africans were HIV-positive, with over a thousand people dying each day of AIDS. According to the government...

This paper examines the impact of health status on poverty status, accounting for the endogeneity of health status. Using exogenous measures of health status from the South African Integrated Health Survey, we instrument for health status while allowing for covariation among the unobservables...