A Profile of the North West Province: Demographics, Poverty, Income, Inequality and Unemployment from 2000 till 2007

Elne Jacobs, Cecilia Punt and Constance Bothloko

No 58055, Background Paper Series from PROVIDE Project

Abstract: The North West agricultural sector is a dynamic and livelihood sustainable sector. Approximately 2.6% of the North West value added gross domestic product comes through agriculture and 1.7% of the population in the North West is working in this sector. There is thus a need for macro-economic research in order to investigate potential and current challenges and opportunities to ensure growth in agricultural industries. This paper examines several of these challenges namely demographic compositions, unemployment, income distribution, poverty and inequality. It will provide results from the Labour Force Surveys from 2000 until 2007 with a more in-depth look into 2007. Population and labour force statistics provide the foundation for further analysis. This paper indicates that unemployment is being dominated by the African individuals and that employment in the North West agricultural sector is on a decreasing trend. It shows further that income distribution is highly skewed which leads to high levels of poverty and inequality. Agricultural incomes are lowest across all races compared to non-agricultural incomes. Poverty is extremely high for African workers in the North West agricultural sector but has decreased since 2000. One of the principal concerns is that of inequality. It shows no improvement since 2000 with a high in-between race inequality and lower within race inequality in the North West agricultural sector. Throughout the report the North West agricultural sector is compared to the non-agricultural sector, North West overall and South Africa for a better understanding of the North West agricultural sector’s position. This report indicates that the North West agricultural sector could benefit from intervention and support to correct the present state of decreasing employment, low income, and high poverty and inequality levels.

Keywords: Food Security and Poverty; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52
Date: 2009-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:provbp:58055

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.58055

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