Spatiotemporal variation of South African jobless trends: policy directions

Abstract

The need to understand the spatiotemporal change in South African unemployment trends underlies this research. The country has undergone significant socioeconomic change since the fall of apartheid in 1994. Not only has the labor market expanded, but unemployment has also increased. This necessitates a detailed spatial understanding to ensure effective policies at the municipal level to address unemployment. A database of unemployment statistics at the municipal level between 1991 and 2007 was created and used to spatially group municipalities. The results showed that metropolitan municipalities had unique unemployment characteristics and, contrary to findings elsewhere, an overall decrease in the dissimilarity between the unemployed and employed took place after 1991. Therefore, policies should promote economic growth and skills development in municipalities where education levels are low.