[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2012-092.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Real Wage, Labor Productivity, and Employment Trends in South Africa: A Closer Look

Author

Listed:
  • Nir Klein
Abstract
The paper looks at the dynamics of employment in South Africa and examines the factors that contributed to the job-shedding observed during the recent financial crisis. The paper finds that the rapid growth of the real wage, which outpaced the labor productivity growth in most sectors, played an important role in suppressing employment creation. The paper also finds that while there is a co-integrating link between the real wage and labor productivity, the deviations from equilibrium are persistent and thus contribute to a weak link between real wage growth and labor productivity growth in the short term. This finding is also supported by a cross-country analysis, which shows that in South Africa the link between the real wage and labor productivity is substantially weaker than in other emerging markets, even after controlling for labor market tightness indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Nir Klein, 2012. "Real Wage, Labor Productivity, and Employment Trends in South Africa: A Closer Look," IMF Working Papers 2012/092, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2012/092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=25825
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julio J. Rotemberg & Michael Woodford, 1991. "Markups and the Business Cycle," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1991, Volume 6, pages 63-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    3. Soo Khoon Goh & Koi Nyen Wong, 2010. "Analyzing the Productivity-Wage-Unemployment Nexus in Malaysia: Evidence from the Macroeconomic Perspective," Monash Economics Working Papers 12-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    4. Bentolila Samuel & Saint-Paul Gilles, 2003. "Explaining Movements in the Labor Share," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-33, October.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Olivier Blanchard, 1999. "Wage Dynamics: Reconciling Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 69-74, May.
    6. JW Fedderke & Martine Mariotti, 2002. "Changing Labour Market Conditions In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(5), pages 830-864, June.
    7. Jack Strauss & Mark E. Wohar, 2004. "The Linkage between Prices, Wages, and Labor Productivity: A Panel Study of Manufacturing Industries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(4), pages 920-941, April.
    8. Jeremy Wakeford, 2004. "The productivity-wage relationship in South Africa: an empirical investigation," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 109-132.
    9. Love, Inessa & Zicchino, Lea, 2006. "Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 190-210, May.
    10. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    11. Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1983. "Real Wages and Unemployment in the OECD Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 14(1), pages 255-304.
    12. Saten Kumar & Don J. Webber & Geoff Perry, 2012. "Real wages, inflation and labour productivity in Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(23), pages 2945-2954, August.
    13. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain: 1973-90," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(426), pages 1025-1043, September.
    14. Junankar, Pramod N. (Raja) & Madsen, Jakob B., 2004. "Unemployment in the OECD: Models and Mysteries," IZA Discussion Papers 1168, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    16. Michael Bruno & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1985. "Economics of Worldwide Stagflation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number brun85-1.
    17. Yaacov Lavi & Nathan Sussman, 2001. "The Determination of Real Wages in the Long Run and its Changes in the Short Run –Evidence from Israel: 1968-1998," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2001.04, Bank of Israel.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Habanabakize & Daniel Francois Meyer & Judit Oláh, 2019. "The Impact of Productivity, Investment and Real Wages on Employment Absorption Rate in South Africa," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Dieter von Fintel, 2017. "Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: Causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Vincent Dadam & Nicola Viegi, 2021. "Estimating a New Keynesian Wage Phillips Curve," Working Papers 202107, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    4. repec:ilo:ilowps:484770 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Vincent Dadam & Nicola Viegi, 2015. "Labour Market and Monetary Policy in South Africa," Working Papers 201569, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    6. Gurvich, Evsey & Vakulenko, Elena, 2017. "Macroeconomic and structural properties of the Russian labor market: A cross-country comparison," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 411-424.
    7. Stanislava Kontsevaya & Jindřich Špička & Irina Kharcheva & Irina Makunina & Raisa Kostina, 2018. "Comparison Analysis and Control Procedures of Labor Workforce Efficiency of Milk Processors in Visegrad Group and Russia," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 263-272.
    8. Dieter von Fintel, 2016. "Wage flexibility in a high unemployment regime: spatial heterogeneity and the size of local labour markets," Working Papers 09/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    9. Saini, Shweta & Gulati, Ashok & von Braun, Joachim & Kornher, Lukas, 2020. "Indian Farm Wages: Trends, growth drivers and linkages with food prices," Discussion Papers 307268, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    10. Gill, Balbinder Singh & Choi, Jongmoo Jay & John, Kose, 2024. "Firm leverage and employee pay: The moderating role of CEO leadership style," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    11. Mohammad Zulfan Tadjoeddin, 2016. "Earnings, productivity and inequality in Indonesia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(2), pages 248-271, June.
    12. Manuel David Cruz, 2022. "Labor productivity, real wages, and employment: evidence from a panel of OECD economies over 1960-2019," Working Papers PKWP2203, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    13. Wittenberg, Martin., 2014. "Analysis of employment, real wage, and productivity trends in South Africa since 1994," ILO Working Papers 994847703402676, International Labour Organization.
    14. Chaido Dritsaki, 2016. "Real wages, inflation, and labor productivity: Evidences from Bulgaria and Romania," Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS), LAR Center Press, vol. 4(5), pages 24-36, October.
    15. International Monetary Fund, 2013. "South Africa: 2013 Article IV Consultation," IMF Staff Country Reports 2013/303, International Monetary Fund.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vincent Dadam & Nicola Viegi, 2021. "Estimating a New Keynesian Wage Phillips Curve," Working Papers 202107, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    2. Manuel David Cruz, 2022. "Labor productivity, real wages, and employment: evidence from a panel of OECD economies over 1960-2019," Working Papers PKWP2203, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    3. Nurliyana Mohd Basri & Zulkefly Abdul Karim & Noorasiah Sulaiman, 2020. "The Effects of Factors of Production Shocks on Labor Productivity: New Evidence Using Panel VAR Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    4. José Abraham López Machuca & Jorge Eduardo Mendoza Cota, 2017. "Salarios, desempleo y productividad laboral en la industria manufacturera mexicana. (Wage, Unemployment and Labor Productivity in the Mexican Manufacturing Industry)," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 185-228, October.
    5. Chor Foon Tang, 2014. "The effect of real wages and inflation on labour productivity in Malaysia," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 311-322, May.
    6. Hansa Jain, 2019. "Wage–Productivity Relationship in Indian Manufacturing Industries: Evidences from State-level Panel Data," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 13(3), pages 277-305, August.
    7. Chaido Dritsaki, 2016. "Real wages, inflation, and labor productivity: Evidences from Bulgaria and Romania," Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS), LAR Center Press, vol. 4(5), pages 24-36, October.
    8. Saten Kumar & Don J. Webber & Geoff Perry, 2012. "Real wages, inflation and labour productivity in Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(23), pages 2945-2954, August.
    9. Neifar, Malika, 2020. "Different dimensions Bank performance comparisons IBs vs CBs – Quatar case," MPRA Paper 101375, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Josheski, Dushko & Bardarova, Snezana, 2013. "Causal relationship between wages and prices in R. Macedonia: VECM analysis," EconStor Preprints 77910, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Cruz, Manuel David, 2023. "Labor Productivity, Real Wages, and Employment in OECD Economies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 367-382.
    12. Timo MITZE & Björn ALECKE & Gerhard UNTIEDT, 2008. "Determinants of Interregional Migration Among German States and its Implications for Reducing East-West Disparities: Results from a Panel VAR Using Efficient GMM Estimation," EcoMod2008 23800089, EcoMod.
    13. Jun Wen & Chun-Ping Chang & Jia-Hsi Weng & Jiliang Liu, 2016. "Globalization And Real Gdp: New Evidence Using Panel Vector Autoregression," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(05), pages 1-34, December.
    14. Gurvich, Evsey & Vakulenko, Elena, 2017. "Macroeconomic and structural properties of the Russian labor market: A cross-country comparison," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 411-424.
    15. Dieter von Fintel, 2017. "Institutional wage-setting, labour demand and labour supply: Causal estimates from a South African pseudo-panel," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-16, January.
    16. Víctor M. Montuenga‐Gómez & José M. Ramos‐Parreño, 2005. "Reconciling the Wage Curve and the Phillips Curve," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 735-765, December.
    17. Donatella Baiardi & Carluccio Bianchi & Eleonora Lorenzini, 2014. "Food competition in world markets: Some evidence from a panel data analysis of top exporting countries," DEM Working Papers Series 083, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    18. David R. Howell & Margaret Duncan & Bennett Harrison, 1998. "Low Wages in the US and High Unemployment in Europe: A Critical Assessment of the Conventional Wisdom," SCEPA working paper series. 1998-01, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School, revised Aug 1998.
    19. Guschanski, Alexander & Onaran, Özlem, 2018. "The labour share and financialisation: Evidence from publicly listed firms," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 19371, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    20. Nicola Viegi & Vincent Dadam, 2020. "Estimating a New Keynesian Wage Phillips Curve," Working Papers 11000, South African Reserve Bank.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2012/092. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.