IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2020-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The impact of the Employment Equity Act on female inter-industry labour mobility and the gender wage gap in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mattie Susan Landman
  • Neave O'Clery

Abstract

The Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998 was introduced by the South African government to address the legacy of apartheid and ensure equitable representation of black people and women in the South African labour market. Although the impacts of the Act are highly controversial, its widespread adoption among firms opens up questions on its impact on the structure of the South African labour market. This study primarily focuses on determining the impact of the Act on female inter-industry labour mobility and the gender wage gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Mattie Susan Landman & Neave O'Clery, 2020. "The impact of the Employment Equity Act on female inter-industry labour mobility and the gender wage gap in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-52, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-52
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-52.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    2. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver of regional diversification: a research agenda," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 351-364, March.
    3. Andrew Kerr & Martin Wittenberg & Jairo Arrow, 2014. "Job Creation and Destruction in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(1), pages 1-18, March.
    4. O’Clery, Neave & Kinsella, Stephen, 2022. "Modular structure in labour networks reveals skill basins," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    5. Delfin Go & Marna Kearney & Vijdan Korman & Sherman Robinson & Karen Thierfelder, 2010. "Wage Subsidy and Labour Market Flexibility in South Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(9), pages 1481-1502.
    6. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    7. Bernard Funck & Lodovico Pizzati, 2002. "Labor, Employment, and Social Policies in the EU Enlargement Process : Changing Perspectives and Policy Options," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15235.
    8. Daniela Casale & Dorrit Posel, 2011. "Unions and the Gender Wage Gap in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(1), pages 27-59, January.
    9. Daniela Casale & Colette Muller & Dorrit Posel, 2004. "‘Two Million Net New Jobs': A Reconsideration Of The Rise In Employment In South Africa, 1995–2003," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(5), pages 978-1002, December.
    10. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    11. 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 04084, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    12. Duncan Pieterse & Elizabeth Gavin & C. Friedrich Kreuser, 2018. "Introduction to the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury Firm‐Level Panel," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 86(S1), pages 6-39, January.
    13. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning, 2013. "Skill relatedness and firm diversification," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 297-316, March.
    14. Dario Diodato & Anet B. R. Weterings, 2015. "The resilience of regional labour markets to economic shocks: Exploring the role of interactions among firms and workers," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 723-742.
    15. Paul L. Cichello & Gary S. Fields & Murray Leibbrandt, 2005. "Earnings and Employment Dynamics for Africans in Post-apartheid South Africa: A Panel Study of KwaZulu-Natal1," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 14(2), pages 143-190, June.
    16. Andrew Kerr, 2018. "Job Flows, Worker Flows and Churning in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 86(S1), pages 141-166, January.
    17. Jeremy R. Magruder, 2012. "High Unemployment Yet Few Small Firms: The Role of Centralized Bargaining in South Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 138-166, July.
    18. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver behind regional diversification: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1702, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2017.
    19. Matias D. Cattaneo & Nicolas Idrobo & Rocio Titiunik, 2019. "A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Foundations," Papers 1911.09511, arXiv.org.
    20. 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," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 15(3-4), pages 251-275, July.
    21. Michael Pries & Richard Rogerson, 2005. "Hiring Policies, Labor Market Institutions, and Labor Market Flows," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(4), pages 811-839, August.
    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. O’Clery, Neave & Kinsella, Stephen, 2022. "Modular structure in labour networks reveals skill basins," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    2. Robert Hill & Tim Köhler, 2021. "Mind the gap: The distributional effects of South Africa’s national lockdown on gender wage inequality," Working Papers 202101, 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. Amina Ebrahim & Kezia Lilenstein, 2019. "Gender and the South African labour market: Policy relevant research possibilities using South African tax data," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-31, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Mattie Landman & Sanna Ojanperä & Stephen Kinsella & Neave O’Clery, 2023. "The role of relatedness and strategic linkages between domestic and MNE sectors in regional branching and resilience," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 515-559, April.
    3. Duygu Buyukyazici & Leonardo Mazzoni & Massimo Riccaboni & Francesco Serti, 2024. "Workplace skills as regional capabilities: relatedness, complexity and industrial diversification of regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 469-489, March.
    4. Simón Sánchez‐Moral & Mário Vale & Alfonso Arellano, 2022. "Skill‐Relatedness and Regional Economic Development in Spain during the International Crisis and the Post‐Crisis Period," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(3), pages 573-602, June.
    5. Ron Boschma, 2022. "Evolutionary Economic Geography and Policy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2220, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2022.
    6. Tom Broekel & Rune Dahl Fitjar & Silje Haus-Reve, 2021. "The roles of diversity, complexity, and relatedness in regional development – What does the occupational perspective add?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2135, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    7. Jacqueline Mosomi, 2019. "Distributional changes in the gender wage gap in the post-apartheid South African labour market," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-17, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Tijl Hendrich & Jennifer Buurma-Olsen & Judith Bayer, 2022. "Entries and Regional Growth: The Role of Relatedness," CPB Discussion Paper 433, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. John-Erik Rørheim & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Skill-relatedness and employment growth of firms in times of prosperity and crisis in an oil-dependent region," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 676-692, June.
    10. Andrew Kerr & Martin Wittenberg, 2019. "Earnings and employment microdata in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-47, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Emelie Hane-Weijman & Rikard H. Eriksson & David Rigby, 2020. "How do occupational relatedness and complexity condition employment dynamics in periods of growth and recession?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2011, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Mar 2020.
    12. Jefferson Ricardo Bretas Galetti & Milene Simone Tessarin & Paulo Cesar Morceiro, 2021. "Skill relatedness, structural change and heterogeneous regions: evidence from a developing country," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(6), pages 1355-1376, December.
    13. Straulino, Daniel & Diodato, Dario & O’Clery, Neave, 2024. "Economic crisis, urban structural change and inter-sectoral labour mobility," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 135-144.
    14. Jing Chen & Xiaojing Li & Yuanyuan Zhu, 2024. "Shock absorber and shock diffuser: the multiple roles of industrial diversity in shaping regional economic resilience after the Great Recession," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 72(3), pages 1015-1045, March.
    15. Jing Xiao & Ron Boschma & Martin Andersson, 2018. "Resilience in the European Union: the effect of the 2008 crisis on the ability of regions in Europe to develop new industrial specializations," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 15-47.
    16. C. Jara-Figueroa & Bogang Jun & Edward Glaeser & Cesar Hidalgo, 2018. "The role of industry, occupation, and location specific knowledge in the survival of new firms," Papers 1808.01237, arXiv.org.
    17. Kadri Kuusk & Mikhail Martynovich, 2018. "What kind of related variety for long-term regional growth?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1834, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2018.
    18. Zoltán Elekes & Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Rikard Eriksson, 2023. "Regional diversification and labour market upgrading: local access to skill-related high-income jobs helps workers escaping low-wage employment," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 417-430.
    19. O’Clery, Neave & Kinsella, Stephen, 2022. "Modular structure in labour networks reveals skill basins," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    20. Pinheiro, Flávio L. & Hartmann, Dominik & Boschma, Ron & Hidalgo, César A., 2022. "The time and frequency of unrelated diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-52. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.