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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The rise in African wages: 1975-1985
Author:Hofmeyr, J.F.
Year:1994
Periodical:South African Journal of Economics
Volume:62
Issue:3
Pages:198-215
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subject:wages
External link:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1813-6982.1994.tb01226.x
Abstract:Average wages for Africans in South Africa have risen rapidly in the greater part of the modern sector, particularly since 1970. Neither scarcity of labour nor union wage pressures provide a plausible explanation for the wage growth. Since the institutional structure of the labour market underwent substantial change in the 1970s and 1980s, it is likely that this provides the explanation. Using a set of data for the period 1975-1985 which has not previously been exploited for this purpose (the data, collected by the Bureau of Market Research for market research purposes, arose from household surveys conducted amongst Africans in South Africa's main urban areas in 1975, 1980, and 1985), this study examines the trends in wage rates using regression analysis in a human-capital framework in order to see whether, over this period, the labour market tended to unify, real wage rates for the unskilled dropped in real terms, and a major part of the rise in average wages was due to upward occupational penetration, i.e. to African workers improving their earnings through moving into better-paid jobs. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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