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A Review of Labour Markets in South Africa: References

Literature › Works

Altman, M. (2005). A Review of Labour Markets in South Africa: References. Labour Markets and Social Policy series, Employment & Economic Policy Research Programme (EEPR), HSRC. Human Sciences Research Council (funded by Sida).
Type report
Scope Post-1994 South African economy
Method synthesis review
Period studied 1972–2005
Regions South Africa
Themes labour markets wages, inequality poverty unemployment, unions strikes, education human capital, methods data sources, transition post apartheid
Citation key altman2005

Argument

This document is only the reference list attached to Altman's 2005 HSRC review of South African labour markets, so it makes no argument of its own. It is split into South African and international sources. Coverage is mostly post-1994 work on unemployment, wages, labour law, the informal economy, HIV/AIDS, skills and career guidance. A small group of apartheid-era works is cited, and these are useful pointers for the book (Wolpe, Legassick, Lipton, Hindson, Hofmeyr, Knight & McGrath, Gerson, Fine & Rustomjee, Wiehahn retrospectives).

Evidence and method

A bibliography of roughly 600 entries: academic articles, DPRU/CSSR/CSAE working papers, HSRC and ILO reports, Statistics South Africa labour force surveys, legal commentary, and theses.

Findings

  • Cites Wolpe's cheap-labour-power analysis of the shift from segregation to apartheid (useful for the book's labour-control framework). (p. 30)

    Wolpe, H. 1972. Capitalism and Cheap Labour-power in South Africa: From Segregation to Apartheid, Economy and Society, 1(4).

  • Cites Legassick's radical account of capital accumulation and violence under apartheid. (p. 18)

    Legassick, M. 1974. South Africa: Capital Accumulation and Violence, Economy and Society, III, pp. 253-291.

  • Cites Lipton's liberal-leaning study of the relationship between capitalism and apartheid. (p. 18)

    Lipton, M. 1985. Capitalism and Apartheid: South Africa, 1910-1986. Aldershot: Wildwood House.

  • Points to Knight and McGrath's study of how apartheid labour-market restrictions eroded. (p. 17)

    The Erosion of Apartheid in the South African Labour Market: Measures and Mechanisms, Applied Economic Discussion Paper, No 35

  • Points to Hofmeyr's study of post-war black wage trends. (p. 14)

    Hofmeyr, J. 1990. Black Wages: The Post-War Experience. In Nattrass, N. & Ardington, E. (eds) The Political Economy of South Africa.

  • Cites Hindson on pass controls, relevant to influx control and urban labour. (p. 14)

    Hindson, D. 1987. Pass Controls and the Urban African Proletariat. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

  • Cites a retrospective on the Wiehahn reforms, relevant to the legalisation of black unions. (p. 27)

    Twenty-five years After Wiehahn – A Story of the Unexpected and the Not Quite Intended. Industrial Law Journal, 25, May.

  • Cites work on the apartheid-era training regime and its legacy. (p. 5)

    Training Policies under Late Apartheid: The Historical Imprint of a Low Skills Regime.

  • Cites Gerson's debate on structural unemployment, with a reply to Knight in the same journal. (p. 13)

    Gerson, J. 1981. The Question of Structural Unemployment in South Africa. South African Journal of Economics, March, 49(1).

  • Cites Fine and Rustomjee's minerals-energy complex interpretation of South African political economy. (p. 12)

    The Political Economy of South Africa: From Minerals-Energy Complex to Industrialisation, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg.

  • Cites Kingdon and Knight on why South Africa has high open unemployment and a small informal sector. (p. 17)

    Why High Open Unemployment and Small Informal Sector in South Africa, CSAE, University of Oxford.