Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 157: Accounting for the persistence of racial wage differences in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper employs data from the Labour Force Surveys of September 2000 and 2001 to update our earlier account of the evolution of the racial wage hierarchy in post-apartheid South Africa. We present evidence that the wage position of the majority African workforce improved relative to all other racial groups immediately following the transition to democratic rule in 1994, but that these gains had been largely eroded by 2001. The persistence of racial wage differences following the repeal of all overt discriminatory laws and regulations points to the need for concerted policy interventions to reverse the legacy of apartheid. We review the range of policy initiatives that have been taken by the South African Government since 1994 in the light of our empirical findings.