04/05/2006
SAIRR Report
You would think since ’94 inequality had decreased? Well, apparently not if a report from the SA Institute of Race Relations is to be believed – it has increased dramatically, especially among the African population :
"Increases (in levels of inequality) were most dramatic for the African population, which saw levels... rise by 21 percent... since 1996," the institute said in a statement issued to mark the publication of its annual South Africa Survey. Such growing inequality was in part an indication of the growth of a black middle class. Of concern, however, was that "such growth has been accompanied by an increase in poverty among the lowest income groups".
The survey showed the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day - the measure of absolute poverty - had more than doubled since 1994.
Again, this is post-’94.
07:35 Posted in Social | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Comments
There is some excellent economic work on this topic, and the changing patterns of incomes more generally. Murray Leibbrandt and others at the UCT have written quite extensively about this and a paper detailing the decline in incomes is "Incomes in South Africa Since the Fall of Apartheid" and is available from the NBER. A summary is here: http://www.nber.org/digest/jan06/w11384.html
Posted by: Larry | 04/06/2006
Very interesting read there Larry, it seems the SAIRR is right on track with their findings of burgeoning poverty. It also shows just how far we really have to go to truly bring the fruits of our recent economic successes to all.
Posted by: someamongus | 04/11/2006
Here's another academic article that deals with the period after Leibbrandt et al. If you believe this then the picture is not as bleak as suggested with social grants starting to make an impact. Check out: http://www.ber.sun.ac.za/downloads/2005/working_papers/WP-01-2005.pdf
Posted by: S. Haba | 04/13/2006
That's a very interesting paper, Haba. So what do you think, does it make sense to 'trust national accounts data for aggregate household income, while [trusting] survey data for the distribution of such income between households." How reliable are the national accounts data? But as the BER guys report, how reliable can the IES/LFS data be if it gives you a 40% decline in real incomes? I must admit, this is not really my field, but things look quite sensitive to particular assumptions...
Posted by: Larry | 04/15/2006
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