IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctw/wpaper/01059.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Labour Market Reform and the Evolution of the Racial Wage Hierarchy in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Allanson
  • Jonathan Atkins

    (University of Dundee)

Abstract

The central theme of this working paper is the way that the racial wage hierarchy evolved in South Africa over the period 1993 to 1999 amongst full-time regular employees of normal working age, but excluding those in the primary sector and the defence forces. We find that the transition to democratic rule in 1994 was accompanied by an improvement in the wage position of the majority African workforce relative to all other racial groups, but that these gains were not fully preserved through the latter half of the decade. The persistence of racial wage differences following the repeal of all overt discriminatory laws and regulations points to the need for concerted policy interventions to reverse the legacy of apartheid. We review the range of policy initiatives that have been taken by the South African Government since 1994 in the light of our empirical findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Allanson & Jonathan Atkins, 2001. "Labour Market Reform and the Evolution of the Racial Wage Hierarchy in Post-Apartheid South Africa," Working Papers 01059, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    • Handle: RePEc:ctw:wpaper:01059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7209
    File Function: First version, 2001
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deolalikar, Anil B & Evenson, Robert E, 1989. "Technology Production and Technology Purchase in Indian Industry: An Econometric Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(4), pages 689-692, November.
    2. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    3. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    4. F. S. Barker, 1999. "On South African Labour Policies," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 67(1), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Kenneth J. Arrow, 1998. "What Has Economics to Say about Racial Discrimination?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 91-100, Spring.
    6. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    7. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    8. David Orr, 1999. "Book," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 3(4), pages 155-156, October.
    9. Donohue, John J, III & Heckman, James, 1991. "Continuous versus Episodic Change: The Impact of Civil Rights Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 1603-1643, December.
    10. Leung, Siu Fai & Yu, Shihti, 1996. "On the choice between sample selection and two-part models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1-2), pages 197-229.
    11. repec:bla:econom:v:65:y:1998:i:258:p:263-84 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Mwabu, Germano & Schultz, T Paul, 2000. "Wage Premiums for Education and Location of South African Workers, by Gender and Race," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 307-334, January.
    13. William A. Darity & Patrick L. Mason, 1998. "Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Gender," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 63-90, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:377476 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Tomei, Manuela., 2005. "Affirmative action for racial equality : features, impact and challenges," ILO Working Papers 993774763402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Haroon Bhorat & Sumayya Goga, 2012. "The Gender Wage Gap in the Post-apartheid South African Labour Market," Working Papers 12148, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Allanson & Jonathan Atkins, 2005. "The Evolution of the Racial Wage Hierarchy in Post-Apartheid South Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 1023-1050.
    2. Paul Allanson & Jonathan Atkins & Timothy Hinks, 2000. "Did the end of Apartheid spell the beginning of the end for the racial wage hierarchy in South Africa? A multilateral analysis of racial wage differentials in the early post- apartheid period," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 118, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    3. Paul Allanson & Jonathan Atkins, 2003. "Accounting for the Persistence of Racial Wage Differences in Post- Apartheid South Africa," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 157, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    4. Hübler, Olaf, 2003. "Geschlechtsspezifische Lohnunterschiede (Gender-specific wage differentials)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 539-559.
    5. Hübler, Olaf, 2003. "Geschlechtsspezifische Lohnunterschiede (Gender-specific wage differentials)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 539-559.
    6. Chen, Yiu Por (Vincent) & Zhang, Yuan, 2018. "A decomposition method on employment and wage discrimination and its application in urban China (2002–2013)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Gabriel Montes-Rojas & Lucas Siga & Ram Mainali, 2017. "Mean and quantile regression Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions with an application to caste discrimination," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(3), pages 245-255, September.
    8. Zhu, Rong, 2016. "Wage differentials between urban residents and rural migrants in urban China during 2002–2007: A distributional analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 2-14.
    9. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    10. Inés P. Murillo & Hipólito Simón, 2014. "La Gran Recesión y el diferencial salarial por género en España," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 39-76, March.
    11. Solomon W. Polachek & Jun Xiang, 2009. "The Gender Pay Gap across Countries: A Human Capital Approach," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 227, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Günalp, Burak & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Acar, Elif Öznur, 2013. "Male-Female Labor Market Participation and the Extent of Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Turkey," MPRA Paper 51503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Hugo Ñopo, 2008. "Matching as a Tool to Decompose Wage Gaps," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 290-299, May.
    14. Tushar Agrawal, 2014. "Gender and caste-based wage discrimination in India: some recent evidence [Geschlecht und Kaste-ansässige Lohndiskriminierung in Indien: Einige Neue Beweise]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 47(4), pages 329-340, December.
    15. Debra Shepherd, 2013. "A question of efficiency: decomposing South African reading test scores using PIRLS 2006," Working Papers 20/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    16. Bünstorf, Guido & Krabel, Stefan, 2014. "Gender and Immigration: Double Negative Effects in the Labor Market Outcomes of University Graduates in Germany?," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100290, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Karolina Goraus & Joanna Tyrowicz, 2014. "Gender Wage Gap in Poland – Can It Be Explained by Differences in Observable Characteristics?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 36.
    18. Hugo Nopo & Jaime Saavedra & Maximo Torero, 2004. "Ethnicity and Earnings in Urban Peru," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0405, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    19. Laia Castany, 2010. "The role of size in firms' training: evidence from Spain," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(5), pages 563-584, August.
    20. ChangHwan Kim, 2010. "Decomposing the Change in the Wage Gap Between White and Black Men Over Time, 1980-2005: An Extension of the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Method," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(4), pages 619-651, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Africa: racial wage differences;

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctw:wpaper:01059. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Waseema Petersen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dpuctza.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.