ECS2604_SUMMARY_NOTES 2021

ECS2604_SUMMARY_NOTES 2021 ECS2604_SUMMARY_NOTES CHAPTER 1 1.1 WHY STUDY THE LABOUR MARKET? Any reasonably serious observer of South African society is constantly bombarded by policy questions that have their origin in the labour market. These policy questions may, for example, be raised in the newspapers, and discussed in union meetings or at company board level. Or companies may have to decide about their reaction to some of these issues, and to what extent the company needs to adjust to face the possible long-term consequences of some labour policy issues. As is apparent from the examples mentioned below, such questions may assume various guises, but they are nevertheless often essentially rooted in the labour market. Most individuals are in some way affected by various economic and social problems being experienced in the country, such as poverty, inequality, undernutrition, crime as well as physical and social isolation. Some people say unemployment is the root cause of these problems. But is unemployment actually that serious, and what can be done about this problem? Should the country accept fewer immigrants because they appear to be taking the jobs of local workers, provide a transport subsidy to the unemployed to encourage them to seek work more actively, or launch a national minimum wage policy to ensure the employed do not end up as working poor despite having a job? In pursuit of its policy to correct past imbalances, the government published the draft Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Codes for comment in March 2003, and in January 2004 the BBBEE Act 53 of 2003 was assented to. The primary aim of this act is economic empowerment of all black people (including women, the youth, people with disabilities and those living in rural areas) by, among others, achieving an equitable representation in all levels and occupational categories in the workforce as well as increasing the proportion of black ownership and management control. But does the country have sufficient skilled black people to appoint? What