Wage Inequality: A Gender and Race Analysis of South African Wages between 1994 and 2015

• Main Author: Thunde, Jack
• Other Authors: Bhorat, Haroon
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Commerce 2020
• Subjects: Economics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31258

This paper examines wage inequality among the eight race-gender cohorts in South Africa between 1994 and 2015 by using the 1994 October Household Survey and four waves of the 2015 Quarterly Labour Force Survey. Wage inequality is estimated using the Lorenz Curve, Gini Coefficient, General Entropy class of indices, Atkinson class of measures and Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition techniques. Quantile regressions are also run to identify potential factors that could explain inequality in the country. Inequality between 1994 and 2015 has increased and the decomposition of the General Entropy class of indices and Atkinson class of measures find that this increase is being driven by withingroup inequality as between-group inequality has decreased over the period. The Asian/Indian Female cohort was identified as the most equal cohort in 1994 under a range of inequality measures, with the Coloured Female cohort and the Asian/Indian Male cohort the most unequal and equal cohorts in 2015 respectively. Union membership, educational attainment and the industry an individual worked in were found to be the factors affecting within-group inequality with unions and education attainment contributing to the increasing inequality. Differences in mean wages were found to largely be unexplained showing the presence of discrimination. Black/African Females and Coloured Females experienced the most discrimination in the labour market in 2015 while Asian/Indian Females and White Males experienced substantial favouritism.