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Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel

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  • Dieter von Fintel

    (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)

Abstract

Unemployment in South Africa has been attributed to multiple causes. Wages have grown faster than productivity to reduce labour demand; demographic shifts have increased labour supply. This paper uses a district pseudo-panel, constructed from household surveys, to estimate the elasticity of labour demand, labour supply and unemployment with respect to wages. The goal is to assess whether hiring decisions are more sensitive to increases in wages of low paid workers than high paid workers, and whether wage growth prompts entry into the labour market. Each of these channels combine to result in the positive causal effect of wage growth on unemployment. Furthermore, the research investigates whether these effects are dominated by districts in which unionization rates are high, and where workers are employed by large firms. In so doing, we quantify the role that institutional wage-setting has in raising wages (which in turn contribute to unemployment). The results illustrate that wages of middle to highly paid workers – as opposed to low paid workers - lead to depressed local labour demand and higher local unemployment; these effects can be explained by cross-district unionization rates and the distribution of large firms. Bargaining arrangements correspond closely to the spatial wage distribution; in turn, a large part of the impact that wage growth has on labour market outcomes is determined by these wage-setting institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Dieter von Fintel, 2016. "Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel," Working Papers 07/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers263
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    2. D.P. von Fintel, 2018. "Long-Run Spatial Inequality in South Africa: Early Settlement Patterns and Separate Development," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 81-102, August.
    3. Monique B. Reid & Pierre L. Siklos, 2022. "How Firms and Experts View The Phillips Curve: Evidence from Individual and Aggregate Data from South Africa," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(12), pages 3355-3376, September.
    4. Odile Mackett, 2022. "Decent Work in the South African Macroeconomy: Who are The Winners and Losers?," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 277-305, October.
    5. Ihsaan Bassier, 2021. "The impact of centralized bargaining on spillovers and the wage structure in monopsonistic labour markets," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-132, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Africa; wage-unemployment elasticity; pseudopanel; unions; firm structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

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