GROWTH,EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

The high rate of unemployment in South Africa stands out in an otherwise vastly improved set of macroeconomic fundamentals compared with the situation in the early 1990s. One might be tempted to argue that by this single indicator alone, the government's macroeconomic policies have been a failure. This paper explains why jumping to such a conclusion would be a mistake. Annual time series data on total formal sector employment is constructed dating back to 1946. The relationship between economic growth and formal sector employment is then measured and changes in the employment coefficient over time are described. The employment coefficient was found to be relatively stable, with a long‐term average value of 0.5. It returned to this value after a short‐lived collapse in the mid‐1990s. It is concluded that the main reason for the persistently high and rising rates of unemployment in South Africa since the mid 1990s was the very large increase in the labour force and not a historically deficient growth or employment performance of the economy.     

MEASURING THE WELFARE COST OF INFLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

In this paper, we estimate the long‐run equilibrium relationship between money balance as a ratio of income and the Treasury bill rate for the period of 1965:02 to 2007:01, and in turn use the relationship to obtain welfare cost estimates of inflation. Using the Johansen technique, we estimate a log‐log specification and a semi‐log model of the above relationship. Based on the fits of the specifications, we decided to rely more on the welfare cost measure obtained under the log‐log money demand model. Our estimates suggest that the welfare cost of inflation for South Africa ranges between 0.34% and 0.67% of GDP, for a band of 3‐6% of inflation. Thus, it seems that the South African Reserve Bank's current inflation target band of 3‐6% is not too poorly designed in terms of welfare.     

REVISITING SOUTH AFRICAN EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN THE 1990S

This article revisits South African employment trends recorded since 1995. In particular, it investigates whether the job losses and gains recorded by the October Household Survey jobs in the mid-1990s reflect the reality. This is done by comparing the different official data sets, and by exploring alternative sources of information for three sectors that substantially influenced this trend, namely formal agriculture, mining, and community, social and personal services. Potential inconsistencies within the October Household data are assessed, particularly in relation to the distribution of employees across formal and informal sectors and the categorisation of unpaid family workers. The implications of possible changes to the employment trend from 1995-2006 are considered. This article finds that the evidence is strong enough to call into question published employment trends. According to the October Household Survey, formal employment fell by 1.4 million between 1995 and 1997. The OHS and Labour Force Survey shows that formal employment then grew by 1.9 million between 1997 and 2006. According to the revised figures presented in this paper, 73,000 to 530,000 formal jobs were lost between 1995 and 1997 and 1.4 million net new jobs were created between 1997 and 2006. It is therefore possible that the plummeting and "recovery" of employment in the 1990s were both considerably less dramatic than that reflected in the official statistics. Further research and investigation would be required to validate these trends.     

REVISITING INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT AND SEGMENTATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR MARKET

This study revisits the definition of informal employment, and it investigates the puzzle of high open unemployment co‐existing with relatively limited informal employment in South Africa. We estimate earnings equations using data from the September 2004 Labour Force Survey and present evidence of persistent earnings differentials not only between formal and informal employment, but also between types of informal employment. These persistent earnings differentials are suggestive of complex segmentation in the South African labour market and challenge the presentation of informal employment as an undifferentiated residual with no barriers to entry or mobility.     

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT,FIRM SIZE AND RESERVATION WAGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

The level of youth unemployment in South Africa is much higher than in comparator countries. We investigate whether one of the reasons may be that the wages young people want or need are above those that they could reasonably expect to earn given their characteristics. Unlike previous work on the relationship between reservation wages and unemployment we differentiate between wages in different sizes of firms. Larger firms pay more and thus, even if reservation wages are similar to average predicted wages, they may be above the wages that young people could expect to earn in smaller firms. We find that this is the case.     

INVESTIGATING THE GENDER GAP IN SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP: A DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS

This paper investigates the gender difference in trade union membership among African men and women in South Africa. Using labour force survey data for 2001 and 2007, we show that at least two thirds of the gender gap is explained by differences in union‐related characteristics. When compared with gender differences in personal, household‐ and job‐related characteristics, disparities in job characteristics account for a larger proportion of the gender gap. These findings imply that women would have had higher unionisation rates than men if they possessed male endowments of union‐related characteristics, especially access to unionised jobs.     

INFLATION TARGETING AND THE FISHER EFFECT IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

The paper analyses the relationship between expected inflation and nominal interest rates during a period of inflation targeting in South Africa, i.e. from 2000 to 2005. Specifically, it investigates the Fisher hypothesis that nominal interest rates move one‐to‐one with expected inflation, leaving the real interest rate unaffected. The analysis distinguishes between a short‐run Fisher effect and a long‐run Fisher effect. Using cointegration and error correction models (for monthly data for the period April 2000 to July 2005), it was found that the short‐run Fisher hypothesis did not hold during the relevant period under the inflation targeting monetary policy framework in South Africa. This is attributed to a combination of the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) control over short‐term interest rates and the effects of the monetary transmission mechanism. The long‐run Fisher hypothesis could not be confirmed in its strictest form: while changes in inflation expectations move in the same direction as the nominal long‐term interest rate. This suggests that monetary policy has an influence on the real long‐term interest rate, which has positive implications for general economic activity, thus confirming the credibility of the inflation targeting framework.     

IS THERE EVIDENCE OF A WAGE PENALTY TO FEMALE PART‐TIME EMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA?

In this paper, we investigate female part‐time employment in South Africa. Using household survey data for South Africa from 1995 to 2004, we show that women are over‐represented in part‐time employment, and that the growth in part‐time work has been an important feature of the feminisation of the labour force. In contrast to many studies of part‐time work in other countries, however, we find evidence of a significant wage premium to female part‐time employment. The premium is also robust to fixed effects estimations using Labour Force Survey panel data from 2001 to 2004, where controlling for unobservable differences increases its size. The premium persists with different hourly thresholds defining part‐time employment and when we account for possible reporting errors in hours worked.     

A NOTE ON THE TRIMMED MEAN MEASURE OF CORE INFLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper constructs and analyses the properties of a trimmed mean inflation rate for South Africa. Based on an analysis of the distributions of the consumer price index component price changes, a measure is constructed that provides an estimator of core inflation, which may be particularly useful to policymakers in an inflation‐targeting environment. The trimmed mean estimator focuses on the price movements of individual components that have a strong bearing on the current and future trend of the headline inflation rate, allowing monetary policy to be directed at the persistent or underlying sources of inflationary pressures.     

LONG-RUN M3 DEMAND IN SOUTH AFRICA: A COINTEGRATED VAR MODEL

This paper presents a system cointegration analysis of a long‐run demand for money (measured in terms of M3) in South Africa. In particular, the paper estimates a cointegrated vector autoregression model, consisting of real money, income and the opportunity cost of holding money. Using a variety of theory consistent identification schemes, the money demand function is identified along with other two cointegrating relations, namely, an IS‐type relationship and a relationship relating inflation to the spread between long‐ and short‐term interest rates. The model shows that of the variables used, only income and real money are error‐correcting to the money demand relation. The money demand relation is found to be relatively stable over the sample period, when short‐run fluctuations are corrected for. The model further shows that the long‐run link between money and inflation is rather weak.     

CYCLICAL UNEMPLOYMENT AND CYCLICAL OUTPUT: AN ESTIMATION OF OKUN'S COEFFICIENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA

Persistently high unemployment in South Africa, especially in the face of improved economic conditions since 1994, begs the question: Does unemployment in South Africa respond to changes in output? Okun's law refers to the inverse relationship that exists between cyclical output and cyclical unemployment. This paper estimates Okun's coefficient for the South African economy, using annual data from 1970‐2005. Output and unemployment are decomposed into their trend and cyclical components, using a variety of detrending methods. The presence of structural breaks in Okun's relationship is also investigated, while cointegration analysis was also considered. Evidence of a statistically significant relationship between cyclical output and cyclical unemployment are found in both symmetric (estimates range from ?0.77 to ?0.16) and asymmetric (estimates range from ?0.77 to ?0.18) specifications of Okun's law, irrespective of the detrending technique. However, cyclical unemployment constitutes only a relatively small fraction of total (observed) unemployment, which implies that a more expansionary macroeconomic policy stance might only have a limited impact on total unemployment in South Africa.     

WHAT PRICE‐LEVEL DATA CAN TELL US ABOUT PRICING CONDUCT IN SOUTH AFRICA

This article reports the findings of a study of two unique microdata sets, which are the unit level basis of South Africa's measured Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index, over the period December 2001‐December 2007. In particular, based on techniques that have been used in comparable international studies, findings are reported on the frequency and magnitude of price changes, the duration of prices, and heterogeneity in pricing. The results for South Africa are compared with the stylised facts for pricing conduct, which have been presented in recent international studies. The article offers an illustration of how microdata‐based findings on pricing conduct may impact on the modelling of monetary policy by introducing micro‐founded results into an open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model for the South African economy. The article concludes by identifying areas for further research, where it has not as yet been determined how South African pricing conduct compares with certain stylised pricing facts identified in the international literature.     

THE INTERTEMPORAL RELATION BETWEEN MONEY AND PRICES IN SOUTH AFRICA*

Several studies have emphasized the need to ‘filter’ the money growth and inflation data before a clear short‐run intertemporal relation between them is revealed. When a simple filtering technique is employed to changes in money and prices, the correlation of the series tends to increase as the filter used shifts to lower frequency data. The technique also reveals a statistically significant relation between money and inflation, a pattern of Granger causality that has changed with changes in the monetary and exchange rate regime during 1965‐2005, and much shorter leads/lags between money and inflation than those typically found in similar studies of the experience of developed economies.     

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MANUFACTURING AND SERVICES TO EMPLOYMENT CREATION AND GROWTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

This study examines the linkages between the manufacturing and services sectors, and between each of them and the rest of the domestic economy, based on analysis of input-output tables and employment trends. This reveals that manufacturing is particularly important as a source of demand for the services sector as well as the rest of the economy through its strong backward linkages, which suggests that in this respect a decline in manufacturing could negatively affect future growth. Services are especially important in terms of employment creation, both direct and indirect.     

FORECASTING RECESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA: A COMPARISON OF THE YIELD CURVE AND OTHER ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The paper uses the standard probit model proposed by Estrella and Mishkin (1996) , as well as the modified probit model suggested by Dueker (1997) , to examine the ability of the yield curve to predict recessions in South Africa, and compares its predictive power with other commonly used variables such as the growth rate of real money supply, changes in stock prices and the index of leading economic indicators. Compared with other indicators, real M3 growth does not provide much information about future recessions, whilst movements in the All‐Share index provide information for up to 12 months but do not do better than the yield curve. The index of leading economic indicators outperforms the yield spread in the short run up to 4 months but the yield spread performs better at longer horizons.     

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ETHNIC NICHES: AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper analyses the link between social networks and ethnic occupational niches in the manufacturing sector in South Africa. To this end, it employs the methodology of Bertrand et al. to minimise the omitted variable bias induced by standard approaches investigating network effects and adopts Model's concentration index to define an ethnic niche. The results indicate that 25% of the sample is employed in ethnic niches in the manufacturing sector, but that niche employment varies markedly by language group. In addition, certain language groups tend to be clustered in advantageous niches where monthly income and skill levels are relatively high, while others occupy disadvantageous niches where monthly income and skill levels are relatively low. A number of different econometric specifications find strong evidence of social network effects. This highlights the role that these networks play in forming ethnic niches in the manufacturing sector in South Africa.     

DEMAND FOR MONEY AND EXPENDITURE COMPONENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA: ASSESSMENT FROM UNRESTRICTED ERROR-CORRECTION MODELS

The main aim of this study is to examine empirically the long‐run relationship of money demand and its determinants in South Africa. In contrast with existing studies on the subject, the present study considers various components of real income as determinants. The disaggregated components are final consumption expenditure, expenditure on investment goods and exports. The other determinants are domestic interest rate, yield on government bonds and the exchange rate. The results confirm that the different components of real income have different impacts on the demand for money in South Africa. The presence of long‐run equilibrium relationships between the demand for real M1, M2 and M3 and their determinants is confirmed based on the results of bounds testing.     

INFLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: A TIME‐SERIES VIEW ACROSS SECTORS USING LONG‐RANGE DEPENDENCE

In this paper I examine the time‐series evolution of the log consumer price index series in South Africa, disaggregating the data by sectors. I examine the time period 1990m1‐2008m12, i.e. focusing on the post‐apartheid period. I used methodologies based on fractional integration using parametric and semiparametric techniques. The results indicate that the (total) inflation rate in South Africa is long memory, with an order of integration in the range (0, 0.5). The same happens with most of the data disaggregated by sectors with values of d above 1 in the log prices. Evidence of I(0) inflation is obtained in some cases for “fruits and nuts”, “vegetables” and “sugar”, and evidence of mean reversion in the log prices is only obtained in the case of “fish and other seafood”.     

HIV/AIDS AND POVERTY IN SOUTH AFRICA: A BAYESIAN ESTIMATION OF SELECTION MODELS WITH CORRELATED FIXED‐EFFECTS

In this paper, we estimate the causal impact of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) on monetary poverty using a panel database from South Africa. We treat endogeneity and selection problems associated with HIV/AIDS by a selection model that includes correlated fixed effects both in the level and in the participation equations, which are estimated simultaneously via original Bayesian methods. We model the consequences of the illness on both labour income and income transfers, and disentangle between urban and rural households. While no significant impact of HIV/AIDS on labour income is found because of households' recomposition, we find a substantial fall in received transfers among rural population and a dramatic increase in chronic poverty.     

INFORMALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR IN INDIA: EFFECTS OF LABOR MARKET RIGIDITIES AND IMPORT COMPETITION

Since the 1980s, industrial labor in India has been increasingly informalized, manifested in a rising share of unorganized sector employment and the growing use of temporary and contract workers, and subcontracting in organized manufacturing. Using unit‐level data from the National Sample Survey employment–unemployment survey for 2004–5, the paper investigates econometrically whether labor market rigidities and import competition have been responsible for the informalization of industrial labor in India. The results of econometric models show that labor market reforms tend to increase the creation of regular jobs, while import competition tends to raise casual employment among workers with education levels above primary.