The Future of the South African Political Economy Post-COVID 19

Type Book Section - The Short-Term Labor Market Effects of South Africa’s National COVID-19 Lockdown
Title The Future of the South African Political Economy Post-COVID 19
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2022
Page numbers 129-149
Publisher Springer International Publishing
City Cham
URL https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-10576-0_6
Abstract
We use representative labor force data to conduct a descriptive, empirical analysis of labor market outcomes over time on both the extensive and intensive margins to obtain a nuanced overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown affected the South African labor market. We show that aggregate employment reduced by 2.2 million (14{\%}) in the second quarter of 2020, however, the distribution of job loss was heavily skewed toward vulnerable groups including the youth, those with lower levels of formal education, lower-skilled workers, union non-members, and informal sector workers. We also document notable changes in the distribution of working hours and a substantial increase in economic inactivity. This latter observation is characteristic of lockdown policy which induced an inability for both job-losers and jobseekers to participate in the labor market.

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