Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa. Growth has been inadequate, the skills level requirement of new jobs is continually rising, current skills among the workforce are low and inadequate numbers of low end, unskilled jobs are being created. Finding mechanisms to address this challenge is a key to South Africa’s economic success and the social cohesion of communities. This task demands a combination of macro and microeconomic strategies and falls outside the ambit of this project. 

However, with over 500,000 unemployed people applying for placement in a job or for assistance with unemployment insurance through the Department of Labour, and tens of thousands more who are not eligible turning to private and non-governmental organisation (NGO) operators to assist them find work, there is an important role for employment intermediation services in South Africa. Most of those approaching the Department of Labour and the private and NGO operators reviewed in this report are unskilled or semi-skilled workers servicing the lower skills end of the labour market. 

There is, in most countries, a mismatch between the demand for workers and the supply of job seekers. The causes of this vary from country to country and include: limited information and dissemination on job openings, mismatches between the skills of workers and the demand of employers, the increased mobility of labour, changes in the nature of work, a demand for more frequent upgrading of skills, poor job hunting skills by workers, labour market discrimination, and barriers to access, such as geographic location and the high costs of transport. This can contribute and exacerbate unemployment, as well as long term unemployment of certain groups of people, and/or underemployment.

The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) hosts the thematic research area "Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth", under the Southern African Development Research Network (SADRN). SADRN is hosted by the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) in South Africa and is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The mandate of the network is to ensure that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have the requisite research and negotiating capacity to enable them to negotiate for a fair share of the benefits of global trade at the WTO and other fora. Specifically, the network has the objective to achieve trade, growth, globalization and poverty reduction through:

• Increasing supply of policy-relevant research in SADC by increasing the pool of suitably-skilled researchers based in institutions in SADC;
• Improving the policy relevance of research by developing the capacity of policy makers to discerning research users;
• Developing an appreciation of evidence-based policy making by engaging policy makers in the design, specification, implementation and review of research projects; and
• Building institutional capacity in key organizations in SADC by creating centers of excellence in focus thematic areas of research.

To meet the SADRN objectives of increasing supply of policy relevant research in SADC, BIDPA, under the auspices of the "Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth" theme invites government departments (or government research departments) from SADC Member States to submit proposals to be considered for research on Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth.

Submission Instructions

Submit a proposal describing your topic of interest; proposed methodology; motivation for the topic and its potential impact in your respective country (or in the SADC region) and the proposed budget.

Please note that the identified research topic should be in line with the theme and should be of policy relevance to the country concerned.

Guidelines for submission:

Deadline for submission: 24^th April, 2009

Notification of the accepted paper: 4^th May, 2009

• Notification of receipts will be sent to the designated authors soon after receipt of the proposal.

Funding

Funding is available for only one project and as such only one proposal will be selected from the submitted proposals.

For further information regarding the project please contact, Professor Roman Grynberg

BIDPA Thematic Working Group Project Coordinator at rgrynberg@bidpa.bw or ? 3971750 or fax to ? 3971748.

For more general information on SADRN, please see: http://www.tips.org.za/programme/sadrn

Daphney Mabuza joined TIPS in November 2013. She holds a Bcom degree. She has working experience in administration, including project administration and logistics management. Before joining TIPS, she was at JSI Inc under the umbrella of National Department of Health (HIV/AIDS and STI Cluster) and at SAHCD (Intrahealth International) for the retention study of the health workers within the SADC Region. She was at Cheadle Thompson & Hayom as the project administrator providing support for Land Tenure. She was also with the University of Pretoria Trust as an administrator at the Business Development Unit, responsible for the management and development of new business and the administration of the Intellectual Property projects.

About Dr. Neva Makgetla:

Dr Neva Makgetla is lead economist for research and information at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which she joined in October 2008. She is seconded part-time as Sector Strategies Co-ordinator for the Presidency.

From 2006 to 2008, Dr Makgetla worked at the Presidency full time on sector strategies. From 2000 to 2006, she was policy co-ordinator for fiscal and monetary policy and, from 2005, head of the policy unit at the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). She represented labour as a member of the Securities Regulatory Panel, the Financial Sector Charter Council and the Employment Equity Commission.

Since 2003, Dr. Makgetla has had a fortnightly column in Business Day.

From mid-1995 to 2000, Dr. Makgetla worked for the South African government, including, between 1997 and 2000, as Deputy Director General for Remuneration and Conditions of Service and chief negotiator for the State as employer.

Before entering the public service, Dr. Makgetla worked for the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI), which is associated with the COSATU. She lectured in Economics at universities in Africa and the U.S. from 1982 to 1994, including as senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from early 1991 to late 1994. In this period, she was a member of the Department of Economic Planning of the African National Congress of South Africa, and in 1993/4 was economics co-ordinator of the Reconstruction and Development Programme.

Dr. Makgetla completed her B.A. (Hons) at Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Economics in Berlin.

RSVP by email: Ipeleng@tips.org.za to confirm attendance.

Cheese and wine will be served after the talk.

The presentation slides for the Seminar are available below:

The Regional Forum on Enhancing Competitiveness in Southern Africa: Roadmap to Success was organised by Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub from 9th to 10^th of February 2009 in Johannesburg South Africa. It was attended by government officials and members of the business community in the region. There were guests from World Trade Organisation, World Customs Organisation, USA governments and business communities as well as from the SADC Secretariat.

The topics covered at the forum included Challenges to Competitiveness in Southern Africa, Port Concessions in the Southern African region, Railway Concessions, Removing Barriers at Border Posts, Opening the Skies in Southern Africa, Supporting the Electricity Supply Industry, Setting the Right Price for Energy in the Region, Making SADC Free Trade Area Work for you, Making Customs in SADC More Efficient, Deepening Regional Integration, Attracting Investment in The Region, Trade Facilitation Issues and Global Financial and Economic Distress.

Southern African Development Research Network (SADRN) participated through the Coordinator in the session on "Making SADC Free Trade Area Work for you". The SADRN contribution in that session is available on this website. The rest of the forum presentations will be posted on the website of the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub. The web address is http://www.satradehub.org/.

A Summary Report of the event is available below.

INVITATION TO A PUBLIC DISCUSSION FORUM:  THE IMPACT OF RISING FOOD AND FUEL PRICES ON SMALL BUSINESS

Tuesday 3 March 2009, 09:45 to 13:10

The President of the Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services (FABCOS) , Mr Mxolisi Zwane, invites you and representatives of your company/institution to a public discussion forum on 3 March 2009 in partnership with government, private sector stakeholders and organised business, to discuss the main findings of a commissioned report on The Impact of Rising Food and Fuel Prices on Small Business, and to investigate an appropriate institutional response to these key issues.  

To RSVP please fill in the form attached below.

Programme facilitator:  Mr Vuyo Mbuli

Registration:  09:15 to 09:45

DRAFT PROGRAMME

To download the Impact of Rising Food and Fuel Prices on Small Business Report click here.

The Panel Discussion Themes and Preparatory Notes are available below for download.

About Prof. Robert Z. Lawrence

Professor Robert Lawrence is Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a member of the International Advisory Panel of Asgi-SA.

Professor Robert Lawrence has published extensively.  The list of his research pieces can be found on http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/robert-lawrence

To view the Map for the Venue click here: Note that there is safe underground parking in Meintjies Street.  Please do not park in the street.

The presentation slides for the Seminar are available below:

We are pleased to announce that the 2009 African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) will be held in Durban (South Africa) from the 3^rd to the 17^th of September. Building on the success of the first two editions of APORDE, in 2007 and 2008, we are seeking applications from talented African, Asian and Latin American economists, policy makers and civil society activists who, if selected, will be fully funded. For more information click here.

FABCOS & TIPS - 1 November 2008

TIPS was commissioned by FABCOS (The Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services) to undertake a study on the impact of fuel and food price increases on small business. As FABCOS has a large constituency of informal or previously informal businesses, a strong emphasis was placed on the impacts for informal businesses. Some key outcomes are highlighted below:

Fuel Prices

The main effects of high fuel prices can be observed within the macro-economic framework. The first impact reflects the role of transportation in determining the price of goods: South Africa is a large country, and highly dependent on the transportation of goods by road (given the currently very poor state of the rail network). Most micro enterprises are dependent on hired transport to fetch items from wholesalers and/or manufacturers. Although the cost of these services increases as the fuel price increases, there is good evidence to suggest that these prices are both downwardly "sticky" (i.e. that they do not go down when the petrol price declines) and that transport service providers take advantage of general perceptions about rapidly rising fuel prices to increase their margins. The result is that small business owners who are dependant on these forms of transport probably face disproportionate transport costs increases, compared to bigger businesses that control their own logistics. This reduces the competitiveness of the smaller businesses.

The second impact is through the regulatory response to inflation. Higher interest rates reduce the disposable income of consumers, by raising debt service costs. As consumers spend more of their disposable income on servicing debt, so they have less to spend on other items.

The third issue for small businesses arising from higher inflation is that, generally, they are not in a position either to negotiate price concessions from manufacturers or wholesalers or to pass inflationary costs on to their consumers. While it is, of course, true that lower consumer expenditure affects all business; small businesses are generally in a much weaker position to ride out periods of reduced consumer spending. The smaller the business, the more vulnerable it is to this.

To date, the ability of many small retail enterprises to survive has been based in large part on their proximity to their clients (convenience), and the (rising) cost of travelling to shop at a large retail centre. However, the official development policy of most Metros in South Africa is to encourage large retailers to penetrate enter the townships, and this is having a considerable impact on the ability of small traders to survive. These small businesses are not opposed to anti development in the townships per se, but they do feel a certain level of resentment towards economic planners who trumpet the necessity of encouraging small business development on the one hand, whilst but on the other hand encouraging development that puts those enterprises at considerable risk.

Food Prices

According to Statistics South Africa, food's weight in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is just under 21%. As such, an increase in food prices will have an impact on general price levels. However, we should not confuse the official weighting of food in the CPI with the actual role of food in monthly household expenditure for many South Africans. Given that South Africa has one of the world's worst distributions of income, there is really no such thing as an "average" consumer. In general terms, the poorer a person, the greater the share of their income that they will spend on food, and the greater the impact on their disposable income of food price inflation that exceeds the rate at which their wages are increasing. Data indicate that the very poorest South Africans spend as much as 80% of their income on food.

Whilst general prices have increased steadily over the past five years, the data show that food inflation (CPI-F) generally increased faster than general inflation, but has done so in particular since the end of 2005. Except for the periods between August-October 2005 and the same period in 2006, food inflation has tended to be higher than the general price level (CPI) of all items. In particular, for the period between September 2007 and 2008, the gap between the two has been widening, implying that more price pressure is being observed in food than for other items.

Another key issue is that for the period between November 2005 and 2006, price increases in rural and urban areas were similar. However, since early 2007, rural prices have tended to grow faster than urban prices. The fact that rural populations spend roughly double (IES, 2006) on food compared to urban groups leaves rural populations at a disadvantage since generally have less disposable income than urban populations.

The two main impacts of rising food prices on micro enterprises are a direct impact (through the erosion of purchasing power of their clients) and an indirect impact (through the erosion of the businesses own purchasing power).

In terms of the direct impact on business through the erosion of their clients' purchasing power, the first point to be made is that the small enterprises that we are considering tend to have lower-income people as their main clients. When food prices are rising more rapidly than the "official" rate of inflation (which sets wage and social grant increases) then these people will have less non-food disposable income and may be forced into actually purchasing less food. Both of these are bad news for small business.

The indirect impact of rising food prices on small businesses comes via the reduction in the disposable income of the business owner. Most of the small businesses under consideration are owned by people who do not fall into the high-income category. Therefore, they tend to spend a relatively high portion of their income on food, and higher food prices mean less income available for other items. The reason why this is important is because most of these small businesses finance their expansion and cash flow requirements from their own savings, and are not able to source other types of finance. Therefore, a reduction in disposable income means less money is available for investing in the business or helping to ride out adverse business periods. This makes small businesses relatively more vulnerable than other type of businesses to adverse price changes.

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