Labor Markets During Apartheid in South Africa

Martine Mariotti

ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics from Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics

Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that international political pressure and domestic civil unrest in the mid-1970s and 1980s brought an end to apartheid in South Africa. I show that, prior to these events, labor market pressure in the late 1960s/early 1970s caused a dramatic unraveling of apartheid in the workplace. Increased educational attainment among whites reduced resistance to opening semi-skilled jobs to Africans. This institutional change reflected white economic preferences rather than a relaxation of attitudes toward apartheid. I show that whites benefited from the relaxation of job reservation rules and that this is the primary cause of black occupational advancement.

JEL-codes: J71 N37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 Pages
Date: 2009-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-his and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Labour markets during apartheid in South Africa (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2009-503

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