Revisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be?

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dc.creatorBurns, Justine
dc.creatorEdwards, Lawrence
dc.creatorPauw, Karl
dc.date2014-06-09T12:14:01Z
dc.date2014-06-09T12:14:01Z
dc.date2013
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-28T10:06:37Z
dc.date.available2015-05-28T10:06:37Z
dc.date.issued2015-05-28
dc.descriptionWage subsidies have been used in both developed and developing countries to raise employment. After a decade of deliberation, the South African Government recently announced the introduction of a wage subsidy scheme. Given the intrinsic link between unemployment and poverty in South Africa, the belief is that a wage subsidy programme sufficient in scope will also make inroads into poverty. However, the way in which jobs are distributed among poor and non-poor jobseekers is crucial. Our general equilibrium microsimulation model confirms the expectation that a higher wage elasticity of labour demand is associated with larger reductions in poverty. We also find that a greater proportion of new jobs accrue to poor jobseekers when the elasticity is high. While youth-targeting does not improve the poverty-reducing effect of the policy, sectors such as textiles, accommodation, and construction services with their pro-poor employment profiles are good candidates for targeting.
dc.identifierBurns, J., Edwards, L. and Pauw, K. (2013). Revisiting Wage Subsidies: How Pro-Poor is a South African Wage Subsidy Likely To Be?, Development Southern Africa, 30(2).
dc.identifierhttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0376835X.2013.801197#.U5WkavmSz9U
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/712
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article DA - 2015-05-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Wage subsidy KW - South Africa KW - Employment KW - Poverty LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Revisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be? TI - Revisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be? UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/712 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/712
dc.languageen
dc.publisherDevelopment Southern Africa
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectWage subsidy
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.subjectEmployment
dc.subjectPoverty
dc.titleRevisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be?
dc.typeJournal Article
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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