Bell, Trevor : Unemployment in South Africa

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Applications by whltea for Employment through Government Labour Exchanges 1914-1940 Year Nder of Applications % of Economically Act,ive White Population 1914 10626 2.2 1915 6973 1.4 1916 8527 1.7 1917 10602 2.1 1918 12250 2.4 1919 15577 3.0 1920 20708 3,9 1921 33729 6.2 1922 53396 9.6 1923 46699 8.2 1924 54600 9.4 1925 50993 8.6 1926 53583 8.9 1927 70459 11.4 1928 72114 11.4 1929 58154 9,o 1930 81042 12.4 1931 120021 17.9 1932 174442 25,5 1933 187924 27.0 1934 149516 21.0 1935 119218 16.4 1936 95888 12.9 1937 96784 12.8 1938 79985 10.4 1939 82200 10,5 1940 78325 9.8 Source: Official Yearbooks of the Union of South Africa 1910-1954 for the number of applications, and various iasues of South African Statistics for economically active White population. Notes: 1) Applications were made to Government mployment Exchanges/ Government Labour Bureaux administered by the Department of Mines (later Mines and Industries) in the period 1910 to about 1925. Thereafter applications were made to central Employment Exchanges and still later to General and Post Office Exchanges, which was the same agency as the 'Government Employment Exchanges' but which from about the micl-'twenties were administered by the Department of Iabour and Soclal Welfare. From June 1925 certair. post offices in rural areas also acted as employment exchanges on behalf of the Department cf Labour and social Welfare. Later, and although the precise date is not clear, certainly by 1945 magistrates' offices also acted as employment exchanges for the Department of Labour. 21 The number of applications include monthly re-rrqistration and apply to a whole year, rather than to a particular date. The numbers thus exceed the number who were actually unemployed at any time during each year. 31 In terms of the Registration of Employment Act No. 34 of 1945, it became compulsory for Whites to register as work= seekers with the Department of Labour employment exchanqe. In 1947 thls provision was extended to Coloureds and Asians 'The Act operated in conjunction with the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1946 as amended. Since compulsory registration may have affected the comparability of the prewar with the post-war years (from 1945 to 19561 the latter have been omitted from the table.
According to this particular indicator, the White unemployment rate rose strongly, with only minor cyclical declines, from 2.4 per cent in 1918 to 11.4 per cent in 1928, before the Great Depression, and then despite a drop in 1929, increased two and a half fold to a peak of 27 per cent in 1933. Nothwithstanding sharp declines thereafter, the unemployment rate amongst Whites on the eve of the Second World War was still higher than it had been in 1926, when the problem of poverty and unemployment was already considered a serious one1). That these figures reflect a very real, serious problem of unemployment amongst Whites which persisted over virtually two decades, seems to be incontrovertible; and the possibility of a protracted period of high and rising unemployment (whether one calls it "cyclical" or "structural") is thus clear. Data comparable with those for the inter-war years are not available for the period since the Second World War. It is apparently not possible, therefore, to determine precisely how high today's unemployment rates in South Africa are, relative to the 'twenties and 'thirties, even in the case of Whites. The rate of unemployment amongst Whites, Coloureds and Asians, harever, is almoat certainly lower today than it was in the interwar years, and, indeed, it seems from evidence presented below that it is lower today than it was in 1961-1962, when it reached its highest level in the post-war period. Nevertheless, since the mid-1970s various studies have suggested not only that the unemployment rate in South Africa for the population as a whole is high compared with other countries, but that there is a tendency for it to rise secularly. These findings have been the subject of much controversy and in the rest of this section, therefore, we focus on the question whether the unemployment rate in South Africa is in fact subject to a rising secular trend. The principal available estimates of unemployment for the South African population as a whole for the past two decades are those of Charles 1) See, for instance, Hobart Houghton and Daqut (19731 for excerpts from some contemporary analyses of the problem.
Page 2 and 3: INSllIUTt TOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC R
Page 4 and 5: i CONTENTS Page - u.t of Tabla0 and
Page 6 and 7: Preface This paper is an extension
Page 10 and 11: Simkins. His work is noteworthy par
Page 12 and 13: There is not, to my knowledge, anot
Page 14 and 15: The evidence thus suggests a persis
Page 16 and 17: ~i~~~~ 1: UNEMPLOYMENT PATES: UNITE
Page 18 and 19: Table 5: Unemployment Rates in Scnn
Page 20 and 21: Thue in a number of other countries
Page 22: Table 6 Registered Unemployment Rat
Page 25 and 26: Table 7 Non-Agricultural Employment
Page 28 and 29: In the case of Blacks, employment g
Page 30 and 31: governwant intervention in foreign
Page 32 and 33: Real Intwraat Rats and Rats of Incr
Page 34 and 35: Table 9 Real Interest Rates and Ave
Page 36 and 37: grawth in general rather than to an
Page 38 and 39: hetbr th. unemployment in voluntary
Page 40 and 41: it is argued that for a small open
Page 42 and 43: imzlO.ion of this form of voluntary
Page 44 and 45: significance1). However, the findin
Page 46 and 47: Thus where the unemployment rate sh
Page 48 and 49: have expected a substantial increas
Page 50 and 51: vii) Finally, amongst the causes of
Page 52 and 53: traditionally been considerably hig
Page 54 and 55: already become much more difficult
Page 56 and 57: unemployment is deregulated markets
Page 58 and 59:
'thirties and even the postvar peri
Page 60:
might, JB (1982) "The Nature of Une
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Bell, Trevor : Unemployment in South Africa

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