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Higher education, employment and economic growth: Exploring the interactions

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  • Haroon Bhorat
  • Aalia Cassim
  • David Tseng

Abstract

This article interrogates the impact and nature of South Africa’s post-apartheid economic growth performance through the lens of human capital investment with a particular emphasis on higher education. The South African economy has been characterised by a skills-biased trajectory, ensuring jobs for the better educated. By differentiating between tertiary and vocational training, we find that further education and training (FET) graduates are almost as likely to be employed as school leavers without higher education. We analyse the extent to which the educational attainments of labour affect the nature and trajectory of economic growth in South Africa, by estimating Olley and Pakes’ two-stage regression on a modified Cobb--Douglas production function. The results indicate that the degree cohort contributes to economic growth whilst other higher education institutions, including FET colleges, do not productively contribute to economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Haroon Bhorat & Aalia Cassim & David Tseng, 2016. "Higher education, employment and economic growth: Exploring the interactions," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 312-327, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:33:y:2016:i:3:p:312-327
    DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2016.1161501
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Haroon Bhorat & Aalia Cassim & Alan Hirsch, 2014. "Policy Co-ordination and Growth Traps in a Middle-income Country Setting: The Case of South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-155, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Suleman Sarwar & Dalia Streimikiene & Rida Waheed & Zouheir Mighri, 2021. "Revisiting the empirical relationship among the main targets of sustainable development: Growth, education, health and carbon emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 419-440, March.
    3. Wanjun Xia & Buhari Doğan & Umer Shahzad & Festus Fatai Adedoyin & Abiodun Popoola & Muhammad Adnan Bashir, 2022. "An empirical investigation of tourism-led growth hypothesis in the European countries: evidence from augmented mean group estimator," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 21(2), pages 239-266, May.
    4. Loudi Njoya & Ibrahim Ngouhouo & Simplice A. Asongu & Friedrich Schneider, 2022. "The role of economic prosperity on informality in Africa: evidence of corruption thresholds from PSTR," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/012, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. Bhorat, Haroon & Cassim, Aalia & Hirsch, Alan, 2014. "Policy co-ordination and growth traps in a middle-income country setting: The case of South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 155, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Matotoka Dennis & Odeku Kola O., 2018. "Transformative Interventions Fostering Mainstreaming of Black South African Women into Managerial Positions in the Private Sector," European Review of Applied Sociology, Sciendo, vol. 11(16), pages 36-50, June.
    7. Lin Li & Maoguo Wu & Zhenyu Wu, 2017. "The Impact of Public Health Expenditure on Economic Development ¨C Evidence from Prefecture-Level Panel Data of Shandong Province," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 8(2), pages 59-65, December.
    8. Anh Tuan Bui & Thu Phuong Pham, 2021. "Financial and Labour Obstacles and Firm Employment: Evidence from Europe and Central Asia Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Kemal Soyer & Hale Ozgit & Husam Rjoub, 2020. "Applying an Evolutionary Growth Theory for Sustainable Economic Development: The Effect of International Students as Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Brian Tavonga Mazorodze & Harris Maduku, 2024. "Does Education Help Local Economies Reach Economic Potential? Evidence from South Africa," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 10(1), pages 57-86, January.

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