New evidence on subjective wellbeing and the definition of unemployment in South Africa

 

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dc.creator Lloyd, Neil
dc.creator Leibbrandt, Murray
dc.date 2013-08-01T13:18:27Z
dc.date 2013-08-01T13:18:27Z
dc.date 2013-05
dc.date.accessioned 2015-05-28T10:06:21Z
dc.date.available 2015-05-28T10:06:21Z
dc.date.issued 2015-05-28
dc.identifier 978 1 920517 35 9
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/11090/610
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/11090/610
dc.description Access to new nationally-representative, individual-level panel data from South Africa has allowed for the revalidation of Kingdon and Knight’s (2006) discussion on the definition of unemployment. This paper investigates subjective wellbeing as a measure of comparison between labour market statuses. It finds that on the grounds of subjective wellbeing the non-searching unemployed (or 'discouraged') are significantly worse-off than the not-economically-active. Moreover, evidence suggests that with regard to the relationship between life satisfaction and labour market status, the 'discouraged' have 'hit rock bottom'. This paper therefore advocates for the inclusion of the non-searching unemployed in the labour force and the use of a broad definition of unemployment, on the grounds that rational individuals would not self select into a lower state of wellbeing.
dc.description Neil Lloyd acknowledges the fi nancial support of the National Research Foundation and the National Income Dynamics Study. Murray Leibbrandt acknowledges the Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation for funding his work as the Research Chair in Poverty and Inequality
dc.language en
dc.relation Working Paper;94
dc.subject Unemployment
dc.subject NIDS
dc.subject Longitudinal data
dc.subject Subjective wellbeing
dc.subject Labour market
dc.subject Discouraged
dc.subject Life satisfaction
dc.subject Non-searching unemployed
dc.title New evidence on subjective wellbeing and the definition of unemployment in South Africa
dc.type Working Paper
uct.type.publication Research en_ZA
uct.type.resource Working Paper en_ZA
dc.publisher.institution University of Cape Town
dc.publisher.faculty Faculty of Commerce en_ZA
dc.publisher.department SALDRU en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper DA - 2015-05-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Unemployment KW - NIDS KW - Longitudinal data KW - Subjective wellbeing KW - Labour market KW - Discouraged KW - Life satisfaction KW - Non-searching unemployed LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - New evidence on subjective wellbeing and the definition of unemployment in South Africa TI - New evidence on subjective wellbeing and the definition of unemployment in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/610 ER - en_ZA


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