This paper investigates the relationship between education and unemployment in post-apartheid South Africa, and probes the argument that employment growth has been inhibited particularly by skills constraints. We use probit regression analysis to show that higher education protected against unemployment in both 1995 and 2003, and that overall, the relative benefits to tertiary education rose over the period. We show also that these aggregate trends mask substantial variation among race groups and within race groups, among men and women. However, after taking into account changes in the survey instruments used to measure employment, we find only modest evidence of skills-intensive employment growth. Rather, the increase in formally qualified labour was considerably larger than the increase in demand for skilled and semi-skilled labour over the period, and so unemployment rates even among graduates increased over the period.

Empirical explorations of the growth and productivity impacts of infrastructure have been characterized by ambiguous (countervailing signs) results with little robustness. A number of explanations of the contradictory findings have been proposed. These range from the crowd-out of private by public sector investment, non-linearities generating the possibility of infrastructure overprovision, simultaneity between infrastructure provision and growth, and the possibility of multiple (hence indirect) channels of influence between infrastructure and productivity improvements. This paper explores these possibilities utilizing panel data for South Africa over the 1970-2000 period, and a range of 19 infrastructure measures. Utilizing a number of alternative measures of productivity, the prevalence of ambiguous (countervailing signs) results, with little systematic pattern is also shown to hold for our data set in estimations that include the infrastructure measures in simple growth frameworks. We demonstrate that controlling for potential endogeneity of infrastructure in estimation robustly eliminates virtually all evidence of ambiguous impacts of infrastructure, due for example to possible overinvestment in infrastructure. Indeed, controlling for the possibility of endogeneity in the infrastructure measures renders the impact of infrastructure capital not only positive, but of economically meaningful magnitudes. These findings are invariant between the direct impact of infrastructure on labour productivity, and the indirect impact of infrastructure on total factor productivity.

This paper empirically contributes towards the debate between the human capital and screening theories. Using South Africa's September 2004 Labour Force Survey data, and after controlling for self-selection, the weak and strong versions of screening hypothesis are tested. The honour's degree, and certificates or diplomas got without grade twelve, provide evidence for the SSH for both public and private sectors, as per the Wolpin (1977) methodology. The same methodology yield evidence in support of the WSH, at the masters and beyond certificate levels in the private sector, but stretching lower to include all other credentials up to and including certificates or diplomas got after grade twelve, in the public sector. Support for the WSH as per the Psacharopoulos (1979) methodology, prevails across the certificate levels, for the entire screened sample. The human capital theory, per se, is supported in the private sector for credentials below the honour's, except for certificates or diplomas got without grade twelve. There is no evidence to support the use of education entirely for its skills bestowing role in the public sector. Results from the Altonji and Pierret (1996) methodology do not also confirm any post-employment screening, whatever the sector. (Words :194)