Job Creation and Destruction in South Africa

Analysts of the South African labour market have mainly used household surveys to analyse the labour market. It has been more difficult to explore the labour demand of firms, as a result of limited data availability. We use the Quarterly Employment Statistics survey, an enterprise survey conducted by Statistics South Africa, to explore how South African firms create and destroy jobs, thereby shedding light on many of the policy questions that are relevant in a high unemployment society like South Africa. We find that job creation and destruction rates are similar to those found in Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries. There is little evidence that labour legislation creates rigidities that prevent firms from hiring or firing workers. We also find that larger firms are better net creators of jobs than small firms and that net job creation rates are negative in manufacturing. Our research has important policy implications – particularly for the South African National Planning Commission's 2030 plan, in which new jobs are envisaged to come mainly from small‐ and medium‐sized firms. Our research suggests that this scenario is not likely without changes to policy or legislation.     

冷战与东欧——近二十年国外学界相关代表性研究及述评

20世纪80年代末90年代初,东欧八个社会主义国家相继发生政治剧变,并自此走上了以建立并巩固多党制为基础的议会民主制、确立并完善私有制为基础的市场经济体制、融入欧洲一体化为转型目标的综合性历史进程。此后迄今为止的20年间,东欧社会主义作为一段完整的历史、一个政治现象,受到了前所未有的关注,并极大地拓展了国际冷战史、比较政治学、社会主义学等诸多学科领域的研究视野。相关成果涉及问题既广且深,不仅包括对东欧社会主义的历史脉络从整体和国别两个层面重新加以细致归理与阐释,还集中体现在利用新解密的多边档案对那些深刻地影响了东西方冷战进程特别是东欧各国以至苏联自身历史演进的重大危机事件进行更为深入的研究。此外,还有基于新材料、新发现、新解读透过东欧剧变对具有普遍意义的一些社会主义基本问题展开的系统反思和理论总结等。本文的要旨即在于对20世纪90年代以来国外有关冷战时期东欧研究的大体情况及主要结论加以介绍和评述,以期对中国同领域的研究提供可能的借鉴与参考。     

Farmers, Vertical Coordination, and the Restructuring of Dairy Supply Chains in Central and Eastern Europe

The combination of transition and globalization since the early 1990s has caused dramatic changes in the dairy chains in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper uses survey evidence from several Central and East European countries to document the growth of vertical coordination in the dairy chain, its relationship with policy reforms, its effects and the implications for small farms. Evidence suggests that in several countries small dairy farms have benefited from vertical coordination processes by providing them access to inputs and higher value markets.