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Earnings functions, labour market discrimination and quality of education in South Africa

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Author Info
Doubell Chamberlain () (Genesis Analytics)
Servaas van der Berg () (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University)

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Abstract

Education is a key determinant of earnings, as several South African studies have confirmed. Years of schooling completed, however, provides an imperfect approximation of the effective level of education achieved, mainly due to variations in the quality of education received. This study addresses this issue by, for the first time in South Africa, incorporating quality of education in the modelling of earnings. Differences in quality of education are viewed as a form of pre-labour market discrimination. By decomposing the wage gap before and after controlling for educational quality, more accurate estimates of the true levels of labour market discrimination are obtained. The main hypothesis tested is that controlling for quality will reduce the component of the wage gap ascribed to labour market discrimination. The results show a systematic decrease in the labour market discrimination component with increased adjustments for quality of education. Almost half of the previous labour market discrimination can be explained by differences in quality, yet the proportion of racial wage differentials ascribed to labour market discrimination is still found to be significant. The clear implication is that current estimates of labour market discrimination are exaggerated and a more careful analysis of earnings is required to re-assess the levels of discrimination in the South African labour market.

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File URL: http://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2002/wp022002/wp-02-2002.pdf
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Paper provided by Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 02/2002.

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Date of creation: 2002
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Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers2

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Related research
Keywords: earnings functions; labour market; discrimination; education; South Africa;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Julian F. Hofmeyr & Robert E. B. Lucas, 1998. "The Rise in Union Wage Premia in South Africa," Boston University - Institute for Economic Development 83, Boston University, Institute for Economic Development.
  2. Murray Leibbrandt & Haroon Bhorat, 1999. "Correlates of Vulnerability in the South African Labour Market," Working Papers 9695, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit. [Downloadable!]
  3. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Johnson, George E & Stafford, Frank P, 1996. "On the Rate of Return to Schooling Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 686-91, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Murray Leibbrandt & Haroon Bhorat, 1999. "Modelling Vulnerability and Low Earnings in the South African Labour Market," Working Papers 9690, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jong-Wha Lee & Robert J. Barro, 1997. "Schooling Quality in a Cross Section of Countries," NBER Working Papers 6198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Mwabu, Germano & Schultz, T Paul, 1996. "Education Returns across Quantiles of the Wage Function: Alternative Explanations for Returns to Education by Race in South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 335-39, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy, 1983. "The Quality of Schooling: Quantity Alone is Misleading," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 928-46, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Heckman, James & Layne-Farrar, Anne & Todd, Petra, 1996. "Human Capital Pricing Equations with an Application to Estimating the Effect of Schooling Quality on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 562-610, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dieter von Fintel, 2006. "Earnings bracket obstacles in household surveys – How sharp are the tools in the shed?," Working Papers 08/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Daniela Casale, 2004. "What has the Feminisation of the Labour Market ‘Bought’ Women in South Africa? Trends in Labour Force Participation, Employment and Earnings, 1995-2001," Working Papers 9639, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit. [Downloadable!]
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