IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2025-48.html

Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa: an update

Author

Listed:
  • François Steenkamp
  • Yanele Nyamela
  • Megan Bryer
  • Siyanda Jonas

Abstract

This paper examines the services sector's contribution to the South African economy and the extent to which the sector can drive structural transformation. The South African economy has continued along a path of tertiarization and can be classified as a de facto services-based economy. Relatively high-productivity modern services activities, including financial, business, and communication services, have become increasingly important.

Suggested Citation

  • François Steenkamp & Yanele Nyamela & Megan Bryer & Siyanda Jonas, 2025. "Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa: an update," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2025-48, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-48
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2025-48-understanding-and-characterizing-services-sector-south-africa-update.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haroon Bhorat & Karmen Naidoo & Morné Oosthuizen & Kavisha Pillay, 2015. "Demographic, employment, and wage trends in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-141, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Nicola Branson & Murray Leibbrandt, 2013. "Education Quality and Labour Market Outcomes in South Africa," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1021, OECD Publishing.
    3. Justin Visagie & Ivan Turok, 2021. "The contribution of services to international trade in Southern Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 21-38, January.
    4. Haroon Bhorat & Karmen Naidoo & Morné Oosthuizen & Kavisha Pillay, 2015. "Demographic, employment, and wage trends in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 141, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Leonardo Baccini & Matteo Fiorini & Bernard Hoekman & Marco Sanfilippo, 2023. "Services, Jobs, and Economic Development in Africa," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(1), pages 147-178.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Pedro Naso, 2019. "Environmental Regulation in a Transitional Political System: Delegation of Regulation and Perceived Corruption in South Africa," CIES Research Paper series 59-2019, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    2. Jacobus Johannes de Jongh, 2019. "Understanding the Drivers of Long-Term Youth Unemployment: Micro-Level Evidence from South Africa," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912297, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    3. Chris Loewald & Konstantin Makrelov, 2020. "Occasional Bulletin of Economic Notes 2001 The impact of inflation on the poor June 2020," Occasional Bulletin of Economic Notes 10005, South African Reserve Bank.
    4. Glenda Kruss, 2020. "Catching up, falling behind: the need to build upgrading coalitions for innovation and inclusive development in South Africa [Catching up, falling behind: a necessidade de coalizões políticas para inovação e desenvolvimento inclusivo na África do Sul," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 30(spe), pages 1115-1144, December.
    5. Adekunle Adedeji & Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin & Johanna Buchcik & Erhabor S. Idemudia, 2023. "Socioeconomic status and social capital as predictors of happiness: evidence and gender differences," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Haroon Bhorat & Safia Khan, 2018. "Structural Change and Patterns of Inequality in the South African Labour Market," Working Papers 201801, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    7. Roberts, Gareth & Schöer, Volker, 2021. "Gender-based segregation in education, jobs and earnings in South Africa," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    8. Nair Amal & Tripathi Sabyasachi, 2026. "Geopolitical Instability and its Ripple Effects on Service Trade," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 41(1), pages 41-69, March.
    9. Shaochen Xu & Xiaofei Zhou & Zeeshan Ahmad, 2022. "Measuring the Psychological Behavior of Tourism Service Providers in Low-Income Regions: Implementing Effective Service Marketing and Performances Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Morné Oosthuizen, 2014. "Poverty, Inequality, and Prices in Post-Apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Haroon Bhorat & François Steenkamp & Christopher Rooney & Nomsa Kachingwe & Adrienne Lees, 2016. "Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa: An overview," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-157, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. M. Grzyb & K. Kowalik, 2025. "Customer Service Digitalization and the Use of Financial Services Offered by a Courier Company," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 383-395.
    13. Haroon Bhorat & François Steenkamp & Christopher Rooney & Nomsa Kachingwe & Adrienne Lees, 2016. "Understanding and characterizing the services sector in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 157, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Finn, Arden & Leibbrandt, Murray & Oosthuizen, Morne, 2014. "Poverty, inequality, and prices in post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Haroon Bhorat & Kezia Lilenstein & Morné Oosthuizen & Amy Thornton, 2020. "Wage polarization in a high-inequality emerging economy: The case of South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-55, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Alexandra Doyle & Amos C Peters & Asha Sundaram, 2014. "Skills mismatch and informal sector participation among educated immigrants: Evidence from South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 137, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    17. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Vimal Ranchhod, 2016. "Patterns of persistence: Intergenerational mobility and education in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 175, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    18. Ricardo Hausmann & Federico Sturzenegger & Patricio Goldstein & Frank Muci & Douglas Barrios, 2022. "Macroeconomic risks after a decade of microeconomic turbulence: South Africa (2007-2020)," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-3, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Jinfang Tian & Yunjing Wang & Siyang Sun, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Two Sides of a Coin: Digital Economy and the Supply of Basic Public Services," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 16943-16968, December.
    20. Cathles, Alison & Ou, Dongshu & Sasso, Simone & Setrana, Mary & van Veen, Tom, 2021. "Where do you come from, where do you go? Assessing skills gaps and labour market outcomes for young adults with different immigration backgrounds," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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-2025-48. 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.