Abstract:
Current research (2003) indicates South Africa is moving away from using semi-skilled labour towards skilled labour-intensive processes in the formal sector, and very low skilled work in the informal sector. This study addresses the evidence that no sector in South Africa has adopted a semi-skilled intensive technology. The paper argues this is the consequence of well-documented acute apartheid era distortions leading to a coordination failure where (i) firms are locked into a mostly skill-intensive technology where they have very little demand for semi-skilled and unskilled labour, and (ii) there are too few skilled and semi-skilled black workers.
