Browsing by Author "Moses, Mariana"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Critical evaluation of possible policy options to reduce unemployment in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Hendriks, Jeremy Francisco; Yu, Derek; Moses, Mariana
    Since the advent of democracy, one of the most serious economic problems facing the South African economy is the persistently high unemployment. Although employment has been increasing in general since the economic transition, the extent of such increase is not rapid enough to absorb the expanding labour force entrants, thereby causing both the level and rate of unemployment to increase. This is indicated by the fact that, despite the increase of employment number from 9.5 million in 1995 to 15.2 million in 2014, the number of unemployed increased from 2.0 million to 5.2 million during the same period, thereby causing the unemployment rate to rise from 17.6% to 25.4%. In fact, the labour market objective of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) to reduce the unemployment rate to 15% by the end of 2014 is not achieved. The government has been trying to solve the unemployment problem by means of various policies, ranging from the “big” policies like the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution Policy (GEAR), the aforementioned ASGISA, and the recently launched National Development Plan (NDP), to the more specific labour market policies such as the Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP), promotion of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to the implementation of the Employment Tax Incentives Bill (also known as the Youth Wage Subsidy) since 1 January 2014. This study first provides a theoretical framework on various models of unemployment, before the main causes of unemployment in South Africa are discussed. A critical evaluation of the pros and cons of various policy options to alleviate unemployment would be looked at. Some of the policy options have already been implemented in South Africa for years and hence the possible success of these policies would be investigated in detail. Few policies have only been recently implemented (e.g. the Employment Tax Incentives Bill), while other possible policy options have not yet been implemented in South Africa (e.g. job-seeking transport subsidy) but have been adopted in other countries. Hence, the feasibility of these options for South Africa would be investigated, by examining the outcome of these policies in the other countries.
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    Examining the performance of the South African economics departments, 2005-2014
    (Wiley, 2017) Yu, Derek; Kasongo, Atoko; Moses, Mariana
    This study examines the teaching and research activities of 17 Economics Departments in 2005-2014 by consulting the information from each university’s faculty prospectus, publication in accredited local and international peer-reviewed journals, Economic Society of South Africa conference participation, Economic Research Southern Africa working paper series and the National Research Foundation. The results indicate there is big variation in the departments’ teaching and research activities during the period. Nonetheless, research output increased, in particular publication in accredited international journals in both absolute and proportional terms.
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    Exploring the eligibility criteria of the child support grant and its impact on poverty
    (Springer Verlag, 2017) Beukes, Rochelle; Jansen, Ada; Moses, Mariana; Yu, Derek
    One of the most important policy objectives in the post-apartheid South African economy is to reduce poverty. Although economic growth and job creation are the preferred sources of alleviating poverty and inequality, social grant spending has contributed significantly to reduce poverty (Van der Berg et al. in Poverty trends since the transition: what we know. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers: 19/09. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University, 2009). Recently proposals were tabled by the Department of Social Development of South Africa (Fin24 in R3.3bn plan to extend child support grant to 21. www.fin24.com/Economy/R33bn-child-care-grant-extension-to-21-on-cards-20150316. Accessed August 7, 2015, 2015) to extend the age eligibility of the child support grant (CSG) to 21 years (at the time of writing children aged up to 18 years are eligible). This sparked an interest to investigate the impact on poverty of changes to the eligibility criteria of CSG, as well as its fiscal implications. Using person and household data from the 2010/2011 Income and Expenditure Survey, various simulations are performed to assess the impact on poverty rates and changes to social spending, given the following changes: (1) if all age-eligible children applied; (2) if all beneficiaries received the grant amount for the full 12-month duration; (3) if the age eligibility criterion is extended; and (4) if the monthly child grant income amount is revised upwards. We also examine how changes in the eligibility criteria affect the income distribution.
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    An investigation into the negative external impact of water pollution, public policy options and coping strategies --with specific references to the Lotus River Catchment area
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Moses, Mariana; Stoltz, Elizabeth; Dept. of Economics; Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
    The main purpose of this study was to assess the negative external impact of water pollution upon water resources and the users thereof within urban areas.
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    A microeconomic analysis of household saving: a specific focus on the lower income categories and prospects of formalising informal saving in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2012) Dlomo, Zwakele; du Toit, Leon; Moses, Mariana
    The paper is a microeconomic analysis of household saving that specifically looks at whether informal saving should be formalised, the costs and benefits to formalising, what has been done and how this may be improved. A microeconomic study in respect of a developing country like South Africa is crucial, rather than blindly adopting the studies of developed countries. This is necessary for a developing country’s households as they have vastly different demographic structures, where most households are likely to be large and poor (Deaton, 1989: 61) and where money is earned from the sale of agricultural produce or low wages and income generated from informal enterprises and services.The Income and Expenditure Survey data of South African households is used in this paper to analyse the behaviour of poor households. The households are divided into 10 quintiles; each quintile represents 10 percent of all households in terms of per capita income. The poorest household is represented in the first quintile and the richest in the tenth quintile.The results of the Income and Expenditure Survey indicate that the poor are concentrated amongst blacks, females, and those living in rural areas. They also have the lowest educational level whereas the larger households are found here. Furthermore, the poor tend to spend more of their income on health, food, education and cultural activities. However, the savings of the poor is lower than the savings of the higher income categories. What is of concern is that the poor do actually save but their saving methods are less likely to be recorded formally. They often prefer the easy access and convenience of informal savings as compared to deposit and credit facilities of formal financial institutions which are difficult to access (Sukhdeve, 2008: 34). However,informal savings carry significant risk for the poor households and barely contribute to GDP. The paper then looks at initiatives to improve the savings of the poor. Enhanced methods to save,accessibility of savings facilities, the reliability of these facilities and convenience will be investigated. These seem to be essential for the accumulation of cash in the long run.
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    The South African labour market, 1995–2015
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2016) Festus, Lyle; Kasongo, Atoko; Moses, Mariana
    This study investigates the changes in the South African labourmarket in the post-apartheid period. While unemploymentincreased over the 1995–2015 period, employment also increased.Nonetheless, the extent of employment increase is not rapidenough to absorb all net entrants into the labour force, resultingin increasing unemployment, or an employment absorption rate of65.3%. Unemployment is concentrated in specific demographicallyand geographically defined groups, most notably Africans, thelowly educated and those aged below 30 years, residing in ruralareas in Gauteng. Finally, four worryingfindings are observed:youth jobseekers aged below 30 years struggle tofind theirfirstjob; chronic unemployment is more serious for the relatively olderjobseekers (aged 45 years or above) with past work experience;employees working for small, medium and micro enterprises stillstagnate at approximately 3.5 million; and jobseekers from theolder age cohorts are less likely to actively seek work by enquiringat workplaces and answering job advertisements.