This research seeks to explore the relationship between informality and inclusive growth in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on South Africa. South Africans typically hold one of two opposing views on the informal sector. The... more
This research seeks to explore the relationship between informality and inclusive growth in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on South Africa. South Africans typically hold one of two opposing views on the informal sector. The first is that informality should be encouraged as an under-utilised source of new employment; the second is that it should be discouraged as an inferior source of employment. The central research question is therefore: “Do informal labour markets promote or constrain inclusive growth?” In order to examine the hypotheses, we use three different methodologies. Firstly, we undertake a regional evidence synthesis examining literature and case studies from the sub-Saharan Africa region. Secondly, we expand on the South African case study and examine the nature of transitions within the labour market. Thirdly, we examine to what extent income shocks may impact the likelihood of engagement within the informal sector.
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The World Bank (2015) reports that, in 2014, almost 1.9 billion individuals in the developing world – roughly one-third of the population in these countries – benefitted from social protection programmes. This is disproportionately driven... more
The World Bank (2015) reports that, in 2014, almost 1.9 billion individuals in the developing world – roughly one-third of the population in these countries – benefitted from social protection programmes. This is disproportionately driven by the size of the programmes in large countries such as China and India. The World Bank estimates that nearly one-third of individuals in the developing world receive benefits from a social protection programme. This compares favourably with the estimated average coverage rate of 25.0 per cent in SSA. The latter suggests that approximately 250 million individuals in SSA are beneficiaries of some form of social protection programme, almost equivalent to the number of beneficiaries of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
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This article applies the econometric methods of the new minimum wage literature to assess the impact of minimum wages on employment, wages and non-wage benefits for youth in South Africa. We find a statistically significant but small... more
This article applies the econometric methods of the new minimum wage literature to assess the impact of minimum wages on employment, wages and non-wage benefits for youth in South Africa. We find a statistically significant but small decline in youth employment in Agriculture. In addition, a small but significant increase in youth employed in Retail and the Taxi sector is observed. For the other sectors, we find no effect. There is a positive wage effect for young people in four of the six minimum wage sectors in our preferred estimation. At the intensive margin, hours of work were adjusted downward in three of the six minimum wage sectors and increased in the post-law period for one sector. It is only in one sector, Retail, where the law appears to have increased the probability of having a written employment contract. In addition, we measure minimum wage violation and find significant levels of non-compliance with the law for a large cohort of young people in South Africa.
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In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania to examine how states engage with citizen voices. The policies all took place in contexts of political change and major junctures... more
In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania to examine how states engage with citizen voices. The policies all took place in contexts of political change and major junctures of democratisation. We identify three kinds of moments when the state listens: hearing moments, when it engages with citizen voices but does not change the way it acts; consultation moments, when it engages with citizen voices through two-way dialogue, resulting in one-sided action; and concertation moments, when coalitions between reform-minded officials and politicians and organised citizen voices engage in two-way dialogue and action for accountable governance. Concertation moments occurred when there was a shared sense of urgency and a common goal across state and non-state actors, and despite different understandings of accountable governance. But concertation moments are also laborious and temporary, part of larger, ever-changing policy processes, and often states revert to consultation or hearing.