IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v13y2001i6p671-689.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The labour market and household income inequality in South Africa: existing evidence and new panel data

Author

Listed:
  • Murray Leibbrandt

    (School of Economics, University of Cape Town, S. Africa)

  • Ingrid Woolard

    (Department of Economics, University of Port Elizabeth, S. Africa)

Abstract

South Africa's very high Gini coefficient has always served as the starkest indicator of the country's extreme inequality. The racial legacy has always been highlighted in explaining this inequality. This paper presents evidence that between race contributions to inequality have declined from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s. However, they are still considerably higher than comparative international figures. The racially rigged labour market has always been assumed to operate as the key force underlying these changing inequality patterns and the paper presents findings for more formal decompositions of the linkage between the labour market and household inequality. This work confirms the dominance of the labour market in driving total South African, African and even KwaZulu-Natal inequality. However, the contribution of wage income is uneven across these different levels of aggregation and across time; suggesting complex patterns of inequality generation. The following lengthy section of the paper uses a panel data set to measure and explain the mobility patterns of a sample of African households in Kwazulu-Natal. It is found that there was less income mobility at the top and the bottom of the distribution than in the middle and overall there was an increase in income differentiation. Simple mobility profiling and more complex modelling confirm the importance of labour market changes in influencing movement of real adult equivalent income of households as well as mobility across deciles, across poverty lines. Demographic changes are also seen to be very important. The paper concludes with a summary and some suggestions for further work. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Murray Leibbrandt & Ingrid Woolard, 2001. "The labour market and household income inequality in South Africa: existing evidence and new panel data," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(6), pages 671-689.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:13:y:2001:i:6:p:671-689
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jid.806
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.806?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lillard, Lee A & Willis, Robert J, 1978. "Dynamic Aspects of Earning Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(5), pages 985-1012, September.
    2. Leibbrandt, Murray & Woolard, Christopher & Woolard, Ingrid, 2000. "The Contribution of Income Components to Income Inequality in the Rural Former Homelands of South Africa: A Decomposable Gini Analysis," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 9(1), pages 79-99, March.
    3. Stephan Klasen & Ingrid Woolard, 2009. "Surviving Unemployment Without State Support: Unemployment and Household Formation in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-51, January.
    4. Lam, David & Levison, Deborah, 1991. "Declining inequality in schooling in Brazil and its effects on inequality in earnings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1-2), pages 199-225, November.
    5. Rolf Aaberge & Anders Björklund & Markus Jäntti & Mårten Palme & Peder J. Pedersen & Nina Smith & Tom Wennemo, 2002. "Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(4), pages 443-469, December.
    6. Leibbrandt, M.V. & Woolard, C.D. & Woolard, I.D., 1996. "The Contribution of Income Components to Income Inequality in South Africa: A Decomposable Gini Analysis," Papers 125, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
    7. Richard V. Burkhauser & John G. Poupore, 1997. "A Cross-National Comparison Of Permanent Inequality In The United States And Germany," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(1), pages 10-17, February.
    8. Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 1999. "Household Incomes, Poverty and Inequality in a Multivariate Framework," Working Papers 99031, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    9. Almeida dos Reis, Jose Guilherme & Paes de Barros, Ricardo, 1991. "Wage inequality and the distribution of education : A study of the evolution of regional differences in inequality in metropolitan Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-143, July.
    10. H. Bhorat & J. Hodge, 1999. "Decomposing Shifts in Labour Demand in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 67(3), pages 155-168, September.
    11. Glewwe, Paul, 1991. "Investigating the determinants of household welfare in Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 307-337, April.
    12. M Leibbrandt & I Woolard & H Bhorat, 2000. "Understanding Contemporary Household Inequality in South Africa," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 31-51, November.
    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. Kholeka Mdingi & Sin-Yu Ho, 2023. "Income inequality and economic growth: An empirical investigation in South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 2230027-223, June.
    2. Tregenna, F., 2009. "The Relationship Between Unemployment and Earnings Inequality in South Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0907, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Almas Heshmati, 2006. "Continental And Sub-Continental Income Inequality," The IUP Journal of Applied Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(1), pages 7-52, January.
    4. Özler, Berk, 2007. "Not Separate, Not Equal: Poverty and Inequality in Post-apartheid South Africa," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(3), pages 487-529, April.
    5. Heshmati, Almas, 2004. "Data Issues and Databases Used in Analysis of Growth, Poverty and Economic Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 1263, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Heshmati, Almas, 2004. "Regional Income Inequality in Selected Large Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 1307, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Chicoine, Luke, 2012. "AIDS mortality and its effect on the labor market: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 256-269.
    8. Ayal Kimhi, 2004. "Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 1281, CESifo.
    9. Naude, Willem & Coetzee, Rian, 2004. "Globalisation and inequality in South Africa: modelling the labour market transmission," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 26(8-9), pages 911-925, December.
    10. Derek Yu & Sihaam Nieftagodien, 2007. "Poverty and Migration: Evidence from the Khayelitsha/Mitchell's Plain Area," SALDRU Working Papers 11, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    11. F. Le R. Booysen, 2004. "Income And Poverty Dynamics In Hiv/Aids‐Affected Households In The Free State Province Of South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(3), pages 522-545, September.

    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. Sten Dieden, 2003. "Integration into the South African Core Economy: Household Level Covariates," SALDRU/CSSR Working Papers 054, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    2. Ingrid Woolard & Stephan Klasen, 2005. "Determinants of Income Mobility and Household Poverty Dynamics in South Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 865-897.
    3. Riphahn, Regina T. & Schnitzlein, Daniel D., 2016. "Wage mobility in East and West Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 11-34.
    4. Ezcurra, Roberto & Gil, Carlos & Pascual, Padro & Rapun, Manuel, 2002. "Mobility and regional inequality in the European Union: Implications for economic policy," ERSA conference papers ersa02p212, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Olga Cant⊙, 2000. "Income Mobility In Spain: How Much Is There?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(1), pages 85-102, March.
    6. Paul Gregg & Claudia Vittori, 2008. "Exploring Shorrocks Mobility Indices Using European Data," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/206, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    7. Ronald Bachmann & Peggy Bechara & Sandra Schaffner, 2016. "Wage Inequality and Wage Mobility in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(1), pages 181-197, March.
    8. Ramses ABUL NAGA & Robin BURGESS, 1997. "Prediction and Determination of Household Permanent Income," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 9705, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    9. Burkhauser, Richard V & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Rhody, Stephen E, 1997. "Labor Earnings Mobility and Inequality in the United States and Germany during the Growth Years of the 1980s," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(4), pages 775-794, November.
    10. Andrew J. Houtenville, 2001. "Income Mobility in the United States and Germany: A Comparison of Two Classes of Mobility Measures using the GSOEP, PSID, and CPS," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(1), pages 59-65.
    11. Ingvild Almås & Magne Mogstad, 2009. "Older or Wealthier? The Impact of Age Adjustments on the Wealth Inequality Ranking of Countries," Discussion Papers 583, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    12. Garnero, Andrea & Hijzen, Alexander & Martin, Sébastien, 2019. "More unequal, but more mobile? Earnings inequality and mobility in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 26-35.
    13. Aalia Cassim & Kezia Lilenstein & Morne Oosthuizen & Francois Steenkamp, 2016. "Informality and Inclusive Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 201602, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    14. Tregenna, F., 2009. "The Relationship Between Unemployment and Earnings Inequality in South Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0907, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    15. Jonas Agell, 2004. "Efficiency and Equality in the Labour Market," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 50(2), pages 255-278.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09j008g6g0g is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Martín Trombetta, 2023. "The distributional implications of short-term income mobility: evidence for Latin America," Working Papers 241, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    18. Miriam Altman, 2001. "Employment promotion in a minerals economy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(6), pages 691-709.
    19. James J. Heckman & Jonas Agell & Florian Gertser & Merz Friedrich, 2003. "The Labour Market and the Job Miracle," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 4(02), pages 29-48, October.
    20. Stéphane Bonhomme & Jean-Marc Robin, 2009. "Assessing the Equalizing Force of Mobility Using Short Panels: France, 1990-2000," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 63-92.
    21. Bonhomme, Stéphane & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2008. "Articles : Conférence François-Albert-Angers – 2008 - La mesure des inégalités de long terme avec des panels courts : 1990-2000," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 84(4), pages 325-363, Décembre.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jintdv:v:13:y:2001:i:6:p:671-689. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    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.