Labor Market Reform Options to Boost Employment in South Africa

Labor Market Reform Options to Boost Employment in South Africa PDF Author: Mr. Romain A Duval
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513584472
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
Raising South Africa’s low employment rate to levels seen in emerging market or advanced economy peers could raise GDP per capita by 50 to 60 percent and reduce income inequality dramatically in the long term. By putting further strain on an already fragile labor market, Covid-19 has raised the urgency of action. This paper reviews labor market policy and other reform options to enhance South Africa’s job market performance, drawing from international evidence and new analysis. We find much scope for improving the design of key labor market institutions—including collective bargaining and employment protection legislation—and active labor market policies to improve job seekers’ prospects. These reforms should come hand-in-hand with others, such as in the areas of education or product market regulation, that may work pay. Labor market and other reforms would primarily benefit disadvantaged groups such as youth.

Labor Market Reform Options to Boost Employment in South Africa

Labor Market Reform Options to Boost Employment in South Africa PDF Author: Mr. Romain A Duval
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513584472
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
Raising South Africa’s low employment rate to levels seen in emerging market or advanced economy peers could raise GDP per capita by 50 to 60 percent and reduce income inequality dramatically in the long term. By putting further strain on an already fragile labor market, Covid-19 has raised the urgency of action. This paper reviews labor market policy and other reform options to enhance South Africa’s job market performance, drawing from international evidence and new analysis. We find much scope for improving the design of key labor market institutions—including collective bargaining and employment protection legislation—and active labor market policies to improve job seekers’ prospects. These reforms should come hand-in-hand with others, such as in the areas of education or product market regulation, that may work pay. Labor market and other reforms would primarily benefit disadvantaged groups such as youth.

The South African Labour Market

The South African Labour Market PDF Author: F. S. Barker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description


Labour Market and Fiscal Policy Adjustments to Shocks

Labour Market and Fiscal Policy Adjustments to Shocks PDF Author: Nombulelo Gumata
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319665200
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 617

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Book Description
This book focuses on the implications of the South African labour market dynamics including labour market reforms and fiscal policy for monetary policy and financial stability. Evidence suggests there are benefits in adopting an approach that coordinates labour market policies and reforms, fiscal policy, price and financial stability. In particular, the benefits of coordinating policies present policymakers with policy options in cases where they are confronted by binding policy trade-offs and dilemmas, such as in cases when there is divergence in price and financial and economic growth outcomes. The empirical insights and policy recommendations are based on different techniques that include the counterfactual and endogenous-exogenous approaches, non-linearities introduced by thresholds and the impact of persistent and transitory shock effects. Themes covered in the book include various aspects of labour market conditions and reforms and their link to inflation and inflation expectations, the impact of the national minimum wage, the interaction between public and private sector wage inflation, economic policy uncertainty and employment, government debt thresholds, sovereign yields and debt ratings downgrades, labour productivity, the impact of inflation regimes on expansionary fiscal and monetary policy multipliers, the increase in government cost of funding on price and financial stability and the link between fiscal policy and credit dynamics.

What Model for the South African Labor Market?

What Model for the South African Labor Market? PDF Author: Peter Gahan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Labor market
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description


South Africa

South Africa PDF Author: Rahul Anand
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498358934
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
This paper analyzes the determinants of high unemployment in South Africa by studying labor market dynamics using individual level panel data from the Quarterly Labor Force Survey. While prior work experience and gender are found to be important determinants of the job-finding rate, education attainment and race are important determinants of the job-exit rate. Using stock-flow equations, counterfactual exercises are conducted to quantify the role of these different transition rates on unemployment. The paper also explores the contribution of unemployment towards inequality. Reducing unemployment is found to be important for reducing inequality – estimates suggest that a 10 percentage point reduction in unemployment lowers the Gini coefficient by 3 percent. Achieving a similar reduction solely through transfers would require a 40 percent increase in government transfers.

An Employment-targeted Economic Program for South Africa

An Employment-targeted Economic Program for South Africa PDF Author: Robert Pollin
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781782543855
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
'Investment in South Africa is low, real interest rates are high, the employment-intensity of growth has been relatively slow. The "employment-targeted program" advocated in this book seeks to reverse these tendencies by lowering average interest rates and channeling subsidized credit to labor-intensive, pro-poor activities, particularly small-scale agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises. This is a bold program and by challenging conventional "inflation-targeted" economic policy, the book makes a major contribution to the debate on economic policy in South Africa.' - Keith B. Griffin, University of California-Riverside, US The people of South Africa, and the African National Congress-led government, have made extraordinary social and economic advances since ending apartheid and beginning the transition to democracy in 1994. But the country still faces severe problems of mass unemployment, underemployment and poverty. This study, sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, presents a detailed economic program designed to produce major reductions in unemployment and poverty, and a general spreading of economic well-being, and to achieve these ends in a manner that is sustainable over a longer-term framework.

Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies

Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies PDF Author: Mr.Romain A Duval
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498313264
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
This paper discusses theoretical aspects and evidences related to designing labor market institutions in emerging market and developing economies. This note reviews the state of theory and evidence on the design of labor market institutions in a developing economy context and then reviews its consistency with actual labor market advice in a selected set of emerging and developing economies. The focus is mainly on three broad sets of institutions that matter for both workers’ protection and labor market efficiency: employment protection, unemployment insurance and social assistance, minimum wages and collective bargaining. Text mining techniques are used to identify IMF recommendations in these areas in Article IV Reports for 30 emerging and frontier economies over 2005–2016. This note has provided a critical review of the literature on the design of labor market institutions in emerging and developing market economies, and benchmarked the advice featured in IMF recommendations for 30 emerging market and frontier economies against the tentative conclusions from the literature.

Towards Employment-Intensive Growth in South Africa

Towards Employment-Intensive Growth in South Africa PDF Author: Anthony Black
Publisher: Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
ISBN: 1775820076
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
South Africa’s high rate of unemployment (26.4%) makes it a complete outlier compared with other middle-income countries. Indeed, the unemployment rate rises to 36% if discouraged workers are taken into account. It underpins extreme poverty and inequality and is a major contributor to social dislocation. If it were not for increased social payments, poverty would have continued to increase since the advent of democracy in 1994. Unemployment also represents a huge cost to growth. This book focuses on the growth path of the economy. The starting point is that while more rapid economic expansion is an important objective, at any given level of growth, the economy as a whole needs to become more labour-absorbing. The central question posed is how to bring about changes in the economic structure and pattern of development, which would lead to the attainment of this objective. The authors argue that employment needs to be much more centrally positioned within the economic and social policy arena. They emphasise innovative approaches within a broader focus on the growth path, and employment-intensive growth. And they posit that the negative impact of previous ‘distortions’ requires much more than a levelling of the playing field via market-based reforms. Apart from presenting an alternative growth path which could start to shift the economy in new directions, the book tackles themes which have received only limited attention, such as wage subsidies, youth unemployment and employment growth in rural areas.

Real Wage, Labor Productivity, and Employment Trends in South Africa

Real Wage, Labor Productivity, and Employment Trends in South Africa PDF Author: Nir Klein
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475588380
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
The paper looks at the dynamics of employment in South Africa and examines the factors that contributed to the job-shedding observed during the recent financial crisis. The paper finds that the rapid growth of the real wage, which outpaced the labor productivity growth in most sectors, played an important role in suppressing employment creation. The paper also finds that while there is a co-integrating link between the real wage and labor productivity, the deviations from equilibrium are persistent and thus contribute to a weak link between real wage growth and labor productivity growth in the short term. This finding is also supported by a cross-country analysis, which shows that in South Africa the link between the real wage and labor productivity is substantially weaker than in other emerging markets, even after controlling for labor market tightness indicators.

Labour Market Reforms in Portugal 2011-15 A Preliminary Assessment

Labour Market Reforms in Portugal 2011-15 A Preliminary Assessment PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264269576
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
This report evaluates the comprehensive labour market reforms undertaken in Portugal in 2011-15. It reviews reforms in employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits, activation, collective bargaining, minimum wages and working time, and assesses the available evidence on their impact.