‘Sometimes you don’t make enough to buy food’ : an analysis of South African street waste pickers’ income
- Viljoen, Kotie, Blaauw, Derick, Schenck, Rinie
- 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.
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- 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.
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Kwesbare groepe in die informele ekonomie : ʼn Gevallestudie van motorwagte in Johannesburg se Wesrand
- Pretorius, Marinda, Blaauw, Derick
- Authors: Pretorius, Marinda , Blaauw, Derick
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Car guards , Informal economy , Vulnerability
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/407375 , uj:34288 , Citation: Pretorius, M. & Blaauw, D. 2019. Kwesbare groepe in die informele ekonomie : ʼn Gevallestudie van motorwagte in Johannesburg se Wesrand.
- Description: Abstract: South Africa’s high levels of car-related crime and spiralling unemployment have resulted in the development of a distinctive South African practice where people are looking after vehicles in shopping malls’ parking sites in exchange for a fee during the last 25 years. People who have lost their work or who never had a formal job in the past could work as a car guard in South Africa. Here, they enjoy little if any of the protection that the labour dispensation provides formal workers. They are therefore indeed an extremely vulnerable group in the informal sector. This article is based on a survey among 110 car guards in Roodepoort and Crown Mines in 2017 with the aim to investigate the socio-economic vulnerability of car guards. Car guards are both socially and economically vulnerable. Besides earning a low income, they are also required to pay a considerable portion of their income to shopping centres or car guard agencies. The average car guard in the survey earns between R7.31 and R21.94 per hour. The average fee per hour was calculated at R12.60 at the time of the survey. The current minimum hourly wage in South Africa is R20. This implies that the average car guard earns less per hour than the official minimum wage in the country. If one keeps in mind that these are gross amounts (the car guards must often pay a daily fee to a car guard organisation from this income), then the economic vulnerability of car guards is obvious. Their economic situation is therefore extremely vulnerable. This vulnerability is worsened by the uncertainty with regard to future income. Their working conditions expose them to various health risks as they are prone to fluctuating weather conditions, such as severe heat and cold, on a daily basis. If they do not work (because of, for example, illness), they earn no income. The researchers identified several possible limitations during the research. In some instances, the language proficiency of the foreign born car guards was indeed a challenge. In these cases, fellow car guards were able to act as interpreters in order to complete the interview. We realise that the sample cannot be used to generalise conclusions for the whole of South Africa. However, the results broadly corroborate the results of surveys in Pretoria (Steyn 2018) and Durban (Foster & Chasomeris 2017). It should be clear that car guards, as is the case with other groupings in the informal economy (e.g. day labourers and waste pickers), experience vulnerability on both social and economic levels. The results of this survey emphasise that a number of questions and uncertainties in terms of the car guard industry remain. These require the attention of researchers. One of the most important points on any future research agenda, will have to be the role of car guard agencies as labour brokers. These brokers apparently take very few risks, yet receive a significant portion of the tips earned by car guards. It is crucial that their role and activities be analysed economically. The second critical aspect requiring further research, is the role of foreign born migrants in the car guard industry in South Africa. This is a conclusion based on this article but also corroborated by the work of Steyn (2018). The mere fact that such a high proportion of car guards in this survey is foreign born, puts a new perspective on the future analysis of the industry. This issue can no longer be ignored. South Africa remains a destination of choice for many immigrants who have to leave their country of origin for political and economic reasons. The renewed economic crisis in, for example, Zimbabwe and the lack of food and employment opportunities in other Southern African countries are push factors which inevitably result in a constant supply of immigrants to South Africa. Once here, they often compete with South African citizens for limited opportunities in the informal economy. These foreign workers are especially...
- Full Text:
- Authors: Pretorius, Marinda , Blaauw, Derick
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Car guards , Informal economy , Vulnerability
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/407375 , uj:34288 , Citation: Pretorius, M. & Blaauw, D. 2019. Kwesbare groepe in die informele ekonomie : ʼn Gevallestudie van motorwagte in Johannesburg se Wesrand.
- Description: Abstract: South Africa’s high levels of car-related crime and spiralling unemployment have resulted in the development of a distinctive South African practice where people are looking after vehicles in shopping malls’ parking sites in exchange for a fee during the last 25 years. People who have lost their work or who never had a formal job in the past could work as a car guard in South Africa. Here, they enjoy little if any of the protection that the labour dispensation provides formal workers. They are therefore indeed an extremely vulnerable group in the informal sector. This article is based on a survey among 110 car guards in Roodepoort and Crown Mines in 2017 with the aim to investigate the socio-economic vulnerability of car guards. Car guards are both socially and economically vulnerable. Besides earning a low income, they are also required to pay a considerable portion of their income to shopping centres or car guard agencies. The average car guard in the survey earns between R7.31 and R21.94 per hour. The average fee per hour was calculated at R12.60 at the time of the survey. The current minimum hourly wage in South Africa is R20. This implies that the average car guard earns less per hour than the official minimum wage in the country. If one keeps in mind that these are gross amounts (the car guards must often pay a daily fee to a car guard organisation from this income), then the economic vulnerability of car guards is obvious. Their economic situation is therefore extremely vulnerable. This vulnerability is worsened by the uncertainty with regard to future income. Their working conditions expose them to various health risks as they are prone to fluctuating weather conditions, such as severe heat and cold, on a daily basis. If they do not work (because of, for example, illness), they earn no income. The researchers identified several possible limitations during the research. In some instances, the language proficiency of the foreign born car guards was indeed a challenge. In these cases, fellow car guards were able to act as interpreters in order to complete the interview. We realise that the sample cannot be used to generalise conclusions for the whole of South Africa. However, the results broadly corroborate the results of surveys in Pretoria (Steyn 2018) and Durban (Foster & Chasomeris 2017). It should be clear that car guards, as is the case with other groupings in the informal economy (e.g. day labourers and waste pickers), experience vulnerability on both social and economic levels. The results of this survey emphasise that a number of questions and uncertainties in terms of the car guard industry remain. These require the attention of researchers. One of the most important points on any future research agenda, will have to be the role of car guard agencies as labour brokers. These brokers apparently take very few risks, yet receive a significant portion of the tips earned by car guards. It is crucial that their role and activities be analysed economically. The second critical aspect requiring further research, is the role of foreign born migrants in the car guard industry in South Africa. This is a conclusion based on this article but also corroborated by the work of Steyn (2018). The mere fact that such a high proportion of car guards in this survey is foreign born, puts a new perspective on the future analysis of the industry. This issue can no longer be ignored. South Africa remains a destination of choice for many immigrants who have to leave their country of origin for political and economic reasons. The renewed economic crisis in, for example, Zimbabwe and the lack of food and employment opportunities in other Southern African countries are push factors which inevitably result in a constant supply of immigrants to South Africa. Once here, they often compete with South African citizens for limited opportunities in the informal economy. These foreign workers are especially...
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Financial challenges and the subjective well‑being of first‑year students at a comprehensive South African university
- Pretorius, Marinda, Blaauw, Derick
- Authors: Pretorius, Marinda , Blaauw, Derick
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Determinants , Happiness , Subjective well‑being
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/431485 , uj:37232 , Citation: Pretorius, M. & Blaauw, D. 2020. Financial challenges and the subjective well‑being of first‑year students at a comprehensive South African university. , DOI: 10.24085/jsaa.v8i1.3824
- Description: Abstract: Since 1994, there has been a doubling in the enrolment of students in South Africa’s public universities. Students, especially first-generation students, face numerous challenges that may impact their subjective perceptions of their well‑being. In a milieu of high levels of suicide and depression amongst South Africa’s student population, the understanding of the variables determining students’ subjective well‑being (SWB) should be deepened. This article investigates the levels and changes in the SWB of successive groups of first‑year students at a comprehensive university in South Africa between 2014 and 2017. It makes use of a fit-for-purpose survey instrument. The results show that the SWB of students is influenced positively by their living arrangements and variables that have a direct influence on the educational environment in which they operate, such as feeling ‘at home’ and an overall level of satisfaction of the students’ experience at the university. Negative variables that influence the SWB of students include concerns regarding finances and upcoming tests, and living on campus or within walking distance of campus.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Pretorius, Marinda , Blaauw, Derick
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Determinants , Happiness , Subjective well‑being
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/431485 , uj:37232 , Citation: Pretorius, M. & Blaauw, D. 2020. Financial challenges and the subjective well‑being of first‑year students at a comprehensive South African university. , DOI: 10.24085/jsaa.v8i1.3824
- Description: Abstract: Since 1994, there has been a doubling in the enrolment of students in South Africa’s public universities. Students, especially first-generation students, face numerous challenges that may impact their subjective perceptions of their well‑being. In a milieu of high levels of suicide and depression amongst South Africa’s student population, the understanding of the variables determining students’ subjective well‑being (SWB) should be deepened. This article investigates the levels and changes in the SWB of successive groups of first‑year students at a comprehensive university in South Africa between 2014 and 2017. It makes use of a fit-for-purpose survey instrument. The results show that the SWB of students is influenced positively by their living arrangements and variables that have a direct influence on the educational environment in which they operate, such as feeling ‘at home’ and an overall level of satisfaction of the students’ experience at the university. Negative variables that influence the SWB of students include concerns regarding finances and upcoming tests, and living on campus or within walking distance of campus.
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