Happy in the informal economy? A case study of well-being among day labourers in South Africa
- Authors: Blaauw, Phillip , Botha, Ilse , Schenck, Rinie , Schoeman, Christie
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Day labouring , Well-being , Happiness , Informal economy
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5532 , ISSN 1535-0754 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13943
- Description: Past research provided evidence of the negative effect that individual unemployment can have on subjective well-being. The persistent high levels of unemployment and poverty in South Africa have been well documented. Many people are forced into the informal economy, where they engage in a variety of survivalist activities such as day labouring. As o previous study has been conducted on the well-being of day labourers, the aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the well-being of South African day labourers. Objective and subjective functions are compared to determine the role of income and other variables in the well-being of day labourers. The determinants are categorised according to economic, comparison and attitudinal variables. The objective function uses income and the subjective function uses the binary measure of experiencing a good week in terms of wages as dependent variables. The results showed that attitudinal variables are important determinants for the subjective measure of well-being. The economic variables were important in both functions. The findings of this paper confirm other research findings showing that personal income is important for well-being in a poor community. The difference between these functions indicates that the subjective and objective measures of well-being both capture valuable characteristics of subjective well-being (SWB) in a poor community.
- Full Text:
‘Sometimes you don’t make enough to buy food’ : an analysis of South African street waste pickers’ income
- Authors: Viljoen, Kotie , Blaauw, Derick , Schenck, Rinie
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/279658 , uj:30036 , Citation: Viljoen, K., Blaauw, D. & Schenck, R., 2018, ‘“Sometimes you don’t make enough to buy food:” An analysis of South African street waste pickers’ income’, Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences 11(1), a186. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/jef.v11i1.186 , ISSN: 2312-2803 (Online) , ISSN: 1995-7076 (Print)
- Description: Abstract: Limited opportunities for the unskilled in the formal economy force many into informal street waste-picking activities. The income from these activities is not sufficient to lift them out of poverty. This article analyses income data of 873 street waste pickers to assess how identified factors explain income variations among them and whether they can endogenously influence their earnings. The results of descriptive, ordinary least square regression and quantile regression analyses show that they can do little to improve their income except to use a trolley and to start early in the morning. To improve their income, policy interventions to integrate them into waste management plans are recommended.
- Full Text:
Household waste management practices and challenges in a rural remote town in the Hantam Municipality in the Northern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Viljoen, Kotie , Schenck, Rinie , Volschenk, Liza , Blaauw, Phillip , Grobler, Lizette
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Household waste management , Municipality , Remote
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/481022 , uj:43570 , Citation: Viljoen, K. et al. 2021. Household waste management practices and challenges in a rural remote town in the Hantam Municipality in the Northern Cape, South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract.
- Full Text:
Precarious, more precarious, most precarious? The quality of life of waste pickers in the Karoo
- Authors: Schenck, Rinie , Viljoen, Kotie , Blaauw, David
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Karoo , Waste picker , Waste reclaimer , Amartya Sen , Capability approach
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/485351 , uj:44113 , DOI:10.15270/57-3-949 , Citation: Schenck, R.; Viljoen, K.; Blaauw, D. 2021. Precarious, more precarious, most precarious? The quality of life of waste pickers in the Karoo. Social Work Journal, 57(3): 1-25. https://doi.org/10.15270/57-3-949 , ISSN: 2312-7198
- Description: Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract.
- Full Text: