New book chapter: “South Africa: employment and inequality trends”

The DPRU has authored a book chapter: “South Africa: employment and inequality trends” in the recently published "Tasks, skills, and institutions: The Changing Nature of Work and Inequality".

This Oxford University Press volume investigates the trends in earnings inequalities in developing countries to determine the main drivers, and features case studies of countries that have experienced transformation.

In the South African chapter, Prof. Haroon Bhorat and his co-authors Ms Kezia Lilenstein, Dr Morné Oosthuizen, and Ms Amy Thornton, employ two measures of routine cognitive work to investigate the association between occupational routine-risk intensity and wage and employment changes in SA. Their research reveals that wage change is polarised, and growth at the bottom is likely related to minimum wage growth, whilst growth at the top is likely linked to increasing returns to skills and higher education.

Details: Edited by Carlos Gradín, Piotr Lewandowski, Simone Schotte, and Kunal Sen. Published by Oxford University Press on 22 June 2023. Chapter 6, pp 89-108.