Reports

Discussion Papers

No.603 Labour market turnovers among South African youths

by Rulof Burger, Seiro Ito

May 2016

ABSTRACT

We describe the labour market turnovers of young people using a household survey data collected from Cape Town industrial area. We measure the correlates of first unemployment duration out of school and find that matriculation and late cohort (leaving school after 2007) are related with reduced initial unemployment, yet matriculation impacts are reduced among late cohort relative to early cohort. Our estimation reveals that initial unemployment is not related with subsequent employment duration nor wage rates, but related with number of turnovers which suggests that a shorter spell is associated with more stable job tenure.

Keywords: youth unemployment, school-to-work transition, scarring effect
JEL classification: J13, J63, J64

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