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Does training benefit those who do not get any? Elasticities of complementarity and factor price in South Africa

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  • Alberto Behar

Abstract

Commentators claim that a shortage of skills in South Africa is constraining output and that a rise in skill supply would benefit less skilled occupations. This assumes or implies skilled and unskilled labour are complements. Hicks Elasticities of Complementarity and elasticities of factor price are estimated between capital and five occupations. The results show that skilled/artisanal and unskilled labour are complements while semi-skilled and unskilled labour are substitutes. These results allow for imperfectly elastic product demand, rigid wages and inference on highly non-linear elasticities. Aggregated estimates suggest More skilled labour complements Less skilled labour.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Behar, 2005. "Does training benefit those who do not get any? Elasticities of complementarity and factor price in South Africa," Economics Series Working Papers 244, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:244
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    1. Elie Appelbaum & Ulrich Kohli, 1997. "Import Price Uncertainty And The Distribution Of Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 620-630, November.
    2. Sparrow, G.N. & Ortmann, Gerald F. & Lyne, Michael C. & Darroch, Mark A.G., 2008. "Determinants of the demand for regular farm labour in South Africa, 1960-2002," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 47(1), pages 1-24, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hicks Elasticity of Complementarity; South Africa; Training; Skill;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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