Sectoral minimum wages in South Africa: disemployment by firm size and trade exposure
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP19/2018Publication date: December 2018
Author(s):
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University)
This paper measures the impact of South African minimum wages on small and large firm employment in a sector that is exposed to international competition (agriculture) and one that is not (retail). Our results highlight that small firms in a tradable sector are the most vulnerable to minimum wage legislation. In particular, small farms shed jobs, while larger farms employed more unskilled workers as a result of minimum wages. Small firms were more affected by the minimum wage as they employed a higher proportion of low-skilled, low-wage workers. In contrast, large farms employed a lower proportion of low-skilled workers and used a more capital-intensive production process and were thus less affected by the legislation. While this shift represents a short-run response to minimum wages, it intensifies a long-run movement towards fewer, larger, more capital-intensive farms. Retail firms, on the other hand, do not exhibit the same behaviour, with zero employment losses in both small and large firms. This difference in result can be explained by the fact that firms that face international competition cannot easily increase prices when faced with wage increases. Non-tradable sectors, such as retail, can increase prices and shift the burden of higher labour costs onto the consumer as they do not face international competition. The effects of minimum wages in South Africa is, therefore, more complex than what previous research shows. We argue that an undifferentiated national minimum wage can result in intra-industry concentration and inequality could grow. This is true even if the economy-wide impact of a national minimum wage could be potentially benign.
JEL Classification:F16, J43, J81, K31, L11
Keywords:Minimum wages, employment effects, firm size, international trade, concentration
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Monday 28 July 202512:00-13:00
Dr Neil Rankin: Ceo Of Predictive Insights & Stellenbosch University
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Prof Willem Boshoff: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Two competing approaches in South African competition policy: merger control and anti-cartel enforcement over the past 30 years"
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Professor Johan Fourie: Stellenbosch University
Topic: "Economic History: TBC"
BER Weekly
18 Jul 2025 Encouraging data, but messy politics while US tariff deadline loomsThe big global data prints of the week came on Tuesday, with better-than-expected Chinese GDP growth for Q2 and US core CPI coming in lower than expected, but still (finally) reflecting some signs of tariffs being passed on to consumers. Locally, the uptick in mining production and retail sales was positive for Q2 GDP dynamics. In addition to the data,...
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