Devising social security interventions for maximum poverty impact

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3606567
AutoresShanelle Van Der Berg (0000-0002-9634-2579), Servaas Van Der Berg (0000-0002-3487-4983, University of Cape Town), Caryn Bredenkamp (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Año2002
Volumen28
Número2
Páginas39-68
Fecha de publicación2002-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533950208458732
OpenAlexW2171915087
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas7

South Africa's social insurance system presently reaches the top half of the income distribution, i.e. most formally employed, but the magnitude of the benefits still leaves much of the labour force inadequately protected. Some of the poor are reached by social assistance measures, but such spending is already high for a developing country and fiscal constraints place limits on its expansion. Schemes for expanding social security thus need to be realistic and incremental. Using poverty dominance analysis and cumulative density curves, poverty was found to be much worse for young children (0–6), older children (7–14), discouraged work seekers and members of female‐headed households than for the population as a whole. Three areas were identified that‐would seem to hold some promise for incrementally expanding social security: expanding coverage of social insurance, expanding social assistance (particularly child support grants) and low‐wage public employment schemes. Whilst unemployment is rampant, it will remain difficult to plug all holes in the social safety net. Sustained economic growth remains the necessary, albeit insufficient, condition for substantial poverty reduction

Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Income Support · Labour economics · Political science · Population · Poverty · Safety net · Social insurance · Social security · Sociology · Unemployment · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare