South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. This income inequality is mostly due to high unemployment and large differences in wages. In South Africa today, economists and policy-makers typically focus on worker characteristics such as education to address wage inequality. Elsewhere, however, attention has recently returned to the power that bosses have to set the wages of workers.

In this study, Ihsaan Bassier documents that employer wage-setting explains over a third of wage inequality in South Africa. In fact, for most workers, specific employers explain about half of the differences in pay.

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19 January 2023

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The Conversation

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https://theconversation.com/pay-inequality-is-high-in-south-africa-bosses-are-part-of-the-problem-196898

This Blog is published under the centre's Labour programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Labour market inequalities: Causes and cures