Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience

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dc.contributor.advisorConradie, Beatriceen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPillay, Kavishaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-09T14:43:45Z
dc.date.available2015-12-09T14:43:45Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAgriculture is a vital source of employment and income for many unskilled workers in South Africa. However, due to the decline in the sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (as a result of the reduction in agricultural production and an increase in the contribution of the manufacturing and services sectors) (Department of Agriculture, 2010), this vital role is diminishing. With changing economic conditions and the implementation of agricultural legislations, such as ESTA, most farm workers' living standards have decreased. Many farm workers earned significantly less than other unskilled workers therefore, to improve their wages, a minimum wage was introduced. However, the minimum wage only increased the wages of farm workers who were still employed as many were retrenched. Since the impact of the minimum wage on employment and wages has been thoroughly studied this paper seeks to determine whether the introduction of the statutory agricultural minimum wage, in 2003, restructured the agricultural labour force. The paper will use the Mincerian wage equation to estimate the returns to skills (education and experience) in order to determine if the productivity of farm workers was affected. The paper finds that educational attainment increased for farm workers and was rewarded by farmers, as the return to education increased. Experience increased for farm workers as well but was not rewarded accordingly, as there was a reduction in the return to experience. Therefore, farm owners prefer a more educated agricultural workforce to a more experienced workforce, as they are willing to offer higher wages to educated farm workers. Evidently, the minimum wage has restructured the workforce to be more productive, but since the same trends were seen for the control group, economic conditions also affected the agricultural workforce. The policy implications of this are that farmers discriminate against younger farm workers, which adds to the increasing youth unemployment problem in South Africa.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPillay, K. (2015). <i>Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15730en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPillay, Kavisha. <i>"Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15730en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPillay, K. 2015. Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Pillay, Kavisha AB - Agriculture is a vital source of employment and income for many unskilled workers in South Africa. However, due to the decline in the sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (as a result of the reduction in agricultural production and an increase in the contribution of the manufacturing and services sectors) (Department of Agriculture, 2010), this vital role is diminishing. With changing economic conditions and the implementation of agricultural legislations, such as ESTA, most farm workers' living standards have decreased. Many farm workers earned significantly less than other unskilled workers therefore, to improve their wages, a minimum wage was introduced. However, the minimum wage only increased the wages of farm workers who were still employed as many were retrenched. Since the impact of the minimum wage on employment and wages has been thoroughly studied this paper seeks to determine whether the introduction of the statutory agricultural minimum wage, in 2003, restructured the agricultural labour force. The paper will use the Mincerian wage equation to estimate the returns to skills (education and experience) in order to determine if the productivity of farm workers was affected. The paper finds that educational attainment increased for farm workers and was rewarded by farmers, as the return to education increased. Experience increased for farm workers as well but was not rewarded accordingly, as there was a reduction in the return to experience. Therefore, farm owners prefer a more educated agricultural workforce to a more experienced workforce, as they are willing to offer higher wages to educated farm workers. Evidently, the minimum wage has restructured the workforce to be more productive, but since the same trends were seen for the control group, economic conditions also affected the agricultural workforce. The policy implications of this are that farmers discriminate against younger farm workers, which adds to the increasing youth unemployment problem in South Africa. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience TI - Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15730 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15730
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPillay K. Structural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experience. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15730en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Economicsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEconomicsen_ZA
dc.titleStructural adjustments to the farm labour force, 1994-2011 : a Mincerian exploration of returns to education and experienceen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMComen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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