Derick Blaauw
Biographic Data
| ID | 159530 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Derick Blaauw |
| GIVEN NAMES | Derick |
| FAMILY NAME | Blaauw |
| SIGNATURE | BLAAUW D |
| AFFILIATIONS | North-West University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8750-4946 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Social work, child support grants and child care in the first 1,000 days
The first 1,000 days after birth are a critical period in a child’s development, as this phase establishes the foundation of the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social welfare. South Africa’s child support grant (CSG), which aims to provide financial assistance to primary caregivers of children in low-income households, therefore has a substantial impact on children’s growth and development. A basic good that greatly “dilutes” the valu…
Investigating the resilience and challenges of informal street traders in South Africa's tourism sector
Selling products and services to tourists is often the main or sole source of income for local and migrant informal traders participating in the tourism sector in developing countries. However, they are vulnerable to exogenous shocks, with the COVID-19 pandemic a recent example. During COVID-19, international travel and domestic movement bans affected the livelihoods of many local and migrant informal traders, with the absence of government suppo…
Informal entrepreneurship in the tourism sector
Informal entrepreneurship is woven into the economic fabric of South Africa’s tourism sector. Some people are ‘pushed’ into the sector by a lack of opportunities in the formal economy; others are ‘pulled’ into the informal sector by the prospect of better livelihoods, independence and personal fulfilment. Starting any business requires different types of capital (financial, social, human and psychological). While many studies have explored these …
Informal second-hand tyre dealers’ management of used and waste tyres in the context of the South African township economy
The Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan, published by South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in 2024, aimed to create an enabling environment for the collection and recycling of waste tyres in South Africa and the creation of a circular economy. A role player excluded in the waste tyre value chain is the informal waste tyre dealers dealing with used and waste tyres and operating as part of the township economy in Sou…
Visible Space, Invisible Labour
This article sheds light on the often-invisible labour of informal waste reclaimers and the visible city spaces they occupy in South Africa. Using Deleuzoguattarian assemblage theory and Colin McFarlane’s, 2011 article on assemblages and critical urbanism as framework, we consider how various spaces for sourcing, sorting, and storing recyclable materials affect waste reclaimers’ lives and livelihoods. This is done by referring to original data fr…
Township economics
In the context of South Africa’s extraordinarily high unemployment rates, urban residents are increasingly fashioning livelihoods from the reclamation and recirculation of waste. Drawing on a survey of 458 unregistered tire dealerships operating in South African townships, this article examines the structure and operations of this segment of the informal economy. Our analysis addresses several underexplored aspects of informality, with a focus on…
Investigating the Earnings of Migrant and Local Day Labourers in Johannesburg, South Africa—A Post‐Covid‐19 Perspective
The fallout of the Covid‐19 pandemic exacerbated the already challenging conditions prevailing among the day labourers in South Africa. We investigated the labour market outcomes (especially income) of day labourers after the Covid‐19 pandemic by focusing on day labourers, both local and foreign, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The methodology for our investigation was based on protocols used in other international and South African studies on var…
‘It’s a disaster, nobody is coming’
The COVID-19 crisis has been one of the most significant events in recent history. Informal traders who depend on a thriving tourist market have been especially vulnerable to COVID-19. The resultant travel bans affected South Africa’s tourism-related informal economic activities. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the pandemic on informal traders’ livelihoods and resilience in Cape Town, South Africa. Tourists have always const…
Informal Tyre Dealers in South Africa
Faced with extraordinarily high unemployment, the long-term unemployed in South Africa increasingly have been securing livelihoods outside of standard waged work. Many are establishing unregistered, micro-enterprises that provide low-cost goods and services to low-income households. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of unregistered (informal) second-hand tyre dealers in three South African cities to better assess their role …
It was better before Covid
Persistent high unemployment in South Africa rendered many in the informal economy structurally vulnerable to shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The social relief of distress (SRD) grant was a government attempt to alleviate the pandemic's fallout. Given the lack of scholarly information on the impact and reach of the SRD grant within the informal economy, particularly on day labourers, this study investigates the impact of the SRD grant on th…
Identifying the prospects of decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling
This study examined the barriers and challenges for decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling that street waste pickers (SWPs) face in the urban regions of Cape Town with a mixed method research design. The findings from the descriptive case study’s primary survey data indicated that the informal recycling economy in these regions has little to no barriers of entry. Initiatives to absorb individuals into this economy could po…
Towards a circular economy
The concept of circular economy includes three aspects from a human perspective, namely Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Studying human behaviour is important in understanding and evaluating the possible success of any of the three elements. We explored the link between household waste practices and local governments’ ability to provide proper waste management, as stipulated in the South African Constitution, as well as the factors linked to different…
Double Whammy Wicked
Poverty and Intrahousehold Gender Inequality in Time Use in Ghana
How gender-based differences in time spent on household and labor-market activities affect men’s and women’s well-being is of growing interest to economists and policymakers. In many countries, women perform more unpaid work than men and have fewer opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty through education and training. This article analyzes the relationship between poverty and gender inequality in time use among monogamous couples in Ghan…
Precarious labour in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Precarious employment is becoming more prevalent again in the developed world while being widespread in developing economies. Day labour is precarious wage work that is emerging and re-emerging in the global North and South. Within the global South context, we explore the socio-economic and labour market outcomes of day labourers in Mpumalanga. A comparable multi-case study research design reveals day labourers' precarious existence: low and unce…
Precarious, More Precarious, Most Precarious? The Quality of Life of Waste Pickers in the Karoo
Towns in the Karoo region currently offer few income‐generating opportunities, resulting in people seeking informal waste‐picking opportunities on the streets and landfills. This article aims to investigate the level of precariousness of waste pickers in the context of the Karoo towns in comparison with the rest of South Africa using Sen’s capability approach. A cross‐sectional research design was used, interviewing 75 informal landfill waste pic…
Re-visiting car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector
This study aims to examine how car guarding remains a sustainable means of livelihood in the informal sector. The study interviewed 30 car guards at six different locations in Durban, South Africa. It examined their demographic characteristics, income, education and skills, among other factors. Furthermore, it compares the findings from 2019 with the 2015 findings from Foster and Chasomeris (2017, Examining car guarding as a livelihood in the inf…
Buyback centres in Cape Town
Waste pickers in informal self-employment
Waste picking provides between 60 000 and 90 000 informal self-employment opportunities in South Africa. This study investigates the labour market of waste pickers in the Bellville CBD, highlighting their socio-economic vulnerability. Two-thirds had a previous formal sector job for an average three years. Forty per cent of these lost this job due to business layoffs. They earn on average approximately R2 900 per month, with 70% of them earning be…
Adaptive Expectations and Subjective Well-being of Landfill Waste Pickers in South Africa’s Free State Province
Relative Effects of Income and Consumption Poverty on Time Poverty in Ghana
What Is Going On in the Lives of These People?”
To respond to the numerous socioeconomic challenges facing South Africa, universities must equip students to actively participate in economic development initiatives. Students from Economics and all disciplines in the Social Sciences have a pertinent role to play in this regard. This article presents an initiative to implement service learning as part of the curriculum for Development Economics students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at…
Exploring the Potential Health Risks Faced by Waste Pickers on Landfills in South Africa
Landfill and street waste pickers in South Africa are responsible for collecting substantial volumes of recyclable material, saving municipalities millions and contributing to a generally healthier and cleaner environment. Yet waste pickers continue to operate on the fringes of the economy and are exposed to many risks, particularly health risks which have a direct impact on the sustainability of their livelihoods. This article, using a mixed-met…
Informality and the context of reception in South Africa's new immigrant destinations
This study examines the context of reception for Zimbabwean migrants who are engaged in South Africa's informal economy. It seeks to contribute to two areas of migration scholarship: (a) the emergence of new immigrant destinations in the global South and (b) the role of the informal economy in shaping the context of reception for migrants in new gateway cities. Through surveys of Zimbabwean day labourers in Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), we documen…
Social work and food security
Food security (or the lack of it) has a direct impact on people’s well-being and is of great concern to many disciplines. The study on which the article is based used Drèze and Sen’s ‘nutritional capability’ concept as a theoretical framework to explain the food (in)security of landfill waste pickers. A cross-sectional research approach was followed, coupled with a triangulation mixed method research design. Viewing the waste pickers against the …
Relative Effects of Income and Consumption Poverty on Time Poverty in Ghana
Informality and the context of reception in South Africa's new immigrant destinations
This study examines the context of reception for Zimbabwean migrants who are engaged in South Africa's informal economy. It seeks to contribute to two areas of migration scholarship: (a) the emergence of new immigrant destinations in the global South and (b) the role of the informal economy in shaping the context of reception for migrants in new gateway cities. Through surveys of Zimbabwean day labourers in Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), we documen…
The Socioeconomic Incorporation of Immigrant and Native‐born Day Labourers in Tshwane, South Africa
It has been widely documented that unauthorized immigrants experience adverse economic incorporation in destination countries, particularly in the global North. Faced with restricted employment opportunities, many are drawn into informalizing segments of the labour market where earnings are low and unstable. Much less is known about how immigrant workers fare in the informal economy of cities of the South. Using surveys conducted in 2004, 2007 an…
Getting to know theAmakwerre-kwerre
Over the past decade, in the face of volatile economic conditions at home, there has been an influx of Zimbabweans into South Africa looking for work and a better life. Many of these jobseekers have moved into the day labourer market, offering their services on street corners and other pickup points in the main metropolitan areas. While their working and living conditions leave much to be desired and their pay is very uncertain, Zimbabwean day la…
Buyback centres in Cape Town
It was better before Covid
Persistent high unemployment in South Africa rendered many in the informal economy structurally vulnerable to shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The social relief of distress (SRD) grant was a government attempt to alleviate the pandemic's fallout. Given the lack of scholarly information on the impact and reach of the SRD grant within the informal economy, particularly on day labourers, this study investigates the impact of the SRD grant on th…
Social work and food security
Food security (or the lack of it) has a direct impact on people’s well-being and is of great concern to many disciplines. The study on which the article is based used Drèze and Sen’s ‘nutritional capability’ concept as a theoretical framework to explain the food (in)security of landfill waste pickers. A cross-sectional research approach was followed, coupled with a triangulation mixed method research design. Viewing the waste pickers against the …
All quiet on the social work front’
Migration, particularly when triggered by economic or political hardship, has significant psychological and socio-economic consequences for the individuals concerned. While an impressive amount of research has been conducted by social workers into migration in North America, Europe and Asia, the same cannot be said for Africa. The continent has high numbers of displaced people and refugees, yet no Africa-linked research on migration has been publ…
Poverty and Intrahousehold Gender Inequality in Time Use in Ghana
How gender-based differences in time spent on household and labor-market activities affect men’s and women’s well-being is of growing interest to economists and policymakers. In many countries, women perform more unpaid work than men and have fewer opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty through education and training. This article analyzes the relationship between poverty and gender inequality in time use among monogamous couples in Ghan…
Precarious labour in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Precarious employment is becoming more prevalent again in the developed world while being widespread in developing economies. Day labour is precarious wage work that is emerging and re-emerging in the global North and South. Within the global South context, we explore the socio-economic and labour market outcomes of day labourers in Mpumalanga. A comparable multi-case study research design reveals day labourers' precarious existence: low and unce…
Day Labourers, Unemployment and Socio-economic Development in South Africa
The Work and Lives of Street Waste Pickers in Pretoria—A Case Study of Recycling in South Africa’s Urban Informal Economy
All quiet on the social work front’
Migration, particularly when triggered by economic or political hardship, has significant psychological and socio-economic consequences for the individuals concerned. While an impressive amount of research has been conducted by social workers into migration in North America, Europe and Asia, the same cannot be said for Africa. The continent has high numbers of displaced people and refugees, yet no Africa-linked research on migration has been publ…
Getting to know theAmakwerre-kwerre
Over the past decade, in the face of volatile economic conditions at home, there has been an influx of Zimbabweans into South Africa looking for work and a better life. Many of these jobseekers have moved into the day labourer market, offering their services on street corners and other pickup points in the main metropolitan areas. While their working and living conditions leave much to be desired and their pay is very uncertain, Zimbabwean day la…
Child Poverty, Youth (Un)Employment, and Social Inclusion
Worldwide child and youth poverty remain the biggest barrier to achieving a better life in adulthood. Progress in lifting children out of poverty in the last decades has been slow and limited in the developing world, while the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated child poverty, youth unemployment, and social exclusion in many developed countries. This book critically examines the long-term consequences of growing up poor, the close linka…
The Socioeconomic Incorporation of Immigrant and Native‐born Day Labourers in Tshwane, South Africa
It has been widely documented that unauthorized immigrants experience adverse economic incorporation in destination countries, particularly in the global North. Faced with restricted employment opportunities, many are drawn into informalizing segments of the labour market where earnings are low and unstable. Much less is known about how immigrant workers fare in the informal economy of cities of the South. Using surveys conducted in 2004, 2007 an…
Informality and the context of reception in South Africa's new immigrant destinations
This study examines the context of reception for Zimbabwean migrants who are engaged in South Africa's informal economy. It seeks to contribute to two areas of migration scholarship: (a) the emergence of new immigrant destinations in the global South and (b) the role of the informal economy in shaping the context of reception for migrants in new gateway cities. Through surveys of Zimbabwean day labourers in Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), we documen…
Social work and food security
Food security (or the lack of it) has a direct impact on people’s well-being and is of great concern to many disciplines. The study on which the article is based used Drèze and Sen’s ‘nutritional capability’ concept as a theoretical framework to explain the food (in)security of landfill waste pickers. A cross-sectional research approach was followed, coupled with a triangulation mixed method research design. Viewing the waste pickers against the …
What Is Going On in the Lives of These People?”
To respond to the numerous socioeconomic challenges facing South Africa, universities must equip students to actively participate in economic development initiatives. Students from Economics and all disciplines in the Social Sciences have a pertinent role to play in this regard. This article presents an initiative to implement service learning as part of the curriculum for Development Economics students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at…
Exploring the Potential Health Risks Faced by Waste Pickers on Landfills in South Africa
Landfill and street waste pickers in South Africa are responsible for collecting substantial volumes of recyclable material, saving municipalities millions and contributing to a generally healthier and cleaner environment. Yet waste pickers continue to operate on the fringes of the economy and are exposed to many risks, particularly health risks which have a direct impact on the sustainability of their livelihoods. This article, using a mixed-met…
Waste pickers in informal self-employment
Waste picking provides between 60 000 and 90 000 informal self-employment opportunities in South Africa. This study investigates the labour market of waste pickers in the Bellville CBD, highlighting their socio-economic vulnerability. Two-thirds had a previous formal sector job for an average three years. Forty per cent of these lost this job due to business layoffs. They earn on average approximately R2 900 per month, with 70% of them earning be…
Adaptive Expectations and Subjective Well-being of Landfill Waste Pickers in South Africa’s Free State Province
Relative Effects of Income and Consumption Poverty on Time Poverty in Ghana
Precarious, More Precarious, Most Precarious? The Quality of Life of Waste Pickers in the Karoo
Towns in the Karoo region currently offer few income‐generating opportunities, resulting in people seeking informal waste‐picking opportunities on the streets and landfills. This article aims to investigate the level of precariousness of waste pickers in the context of the Karoo towns in comparison with the rest of South Africa using Sen’s capability approach. A cross‐sectional research design was used, interviewing 75 informal landfill waste pic…
Re-visiting car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector
This study aims to examine how car guarding remains a sustainable means of livelihood in the informal sector. The study interviewed 30 car guards at six different locations in Durban, South Africa. It examined their demographic characteristics, income, education and skills, among other factors. Furthermore, it compares the findings from 2019 with the 2015 findings from Foster and Chasomeris (2017, Examining car guarding as a livelihood in the inf…
Buyback centres in Cape Town
Double Whammy Wicked
Poverty and Intrahousehold Gender Inequality in Time Use in Ghana
How gender-based differences in time spent on household and labor-market activities affect men’s and women’s well-being is of growing interest to economists and policymakers. In many countries, women perform more unpaid work than men and have fewer opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty through education and training. This article analyzes the relationship between poverty and gender inequality in time use among monogamous couples in Ghan…
Precarious labour in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Precarious employment is becoming more prevalent again in the developed world while being widespread in developing economies. Day labour is precarious wage work that is emerging and re-emerging in the global North and South. Within the global South context, we explore the socio-economic and labour market outcomes of day labourers in Mpumalanga. A comparable multi-case study research design reveals day labourers' precarious existence: low and unce…
Identifying the prospects of decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling
This study examined the barriers and challenges for decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling that street waste pickers (SWPs) face in the urban regions of Cape Town with a mixed method research design. The findings from the descriptive case study’s primary survey data indicated that the informal recycling economy in these regions has little to no barriers of entry. Initiatives to absorb individuals into this economy could po…
Towards a circular economy
The concept of circular economy includes three aspects from a human perspective, namely Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Studying human behaviour is important in understanding and evaluating the possible success of any of the three elements. We explored the link between household waste practices and local governments’ ability to provide proper waste management, as stipulated in the South African Constitution, as well as the factors linked to different…
‘It’s a disaster, nobody is coming’
The COVID-19 crisis has been one of the most significant events in recent history. Informal traders who depend on a thriving tourist market have been especially vulnerable to COVID-19. The resultant travel bans affected South Africa’s tourism-related informal economic activities. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the pandemic on informal traders’ livelihoods and resilience in Cape Town, South Africa. Tourists have always const…
Informal Tyre Dealers in South Africa
Faced with extraordinarily high unemployment, the long-term unemployed in South Africa increasingly have been securing livelihoods outside of standard waged work. Many are establishing unregistered, micro-enterprises that provide low-cost goods and services to low-income households. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of unregistered (informal) second-hand tyre dealers in three South African cities to better assess their role …
It was better before Covid
Persistent high unemployment in South Africa rendered many in the informal economy structurally vulnerable to shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The social relief of distress (SRD) grant was a government attempt to alleviate the pandemic's fallout. Given the lack of scholarly information on the impact and reach of the SRD grant within the informal economy, particularly on day labourers, this study investigates the impact of the SRD grant on th…
Investigating the Earnings of Migrant and Local Day Labourers in Johannesburg, South Africa—A Post‐Covid‐19 Perspective
The fallout of the Covid‐19 pandemic exacerbated the already challenging conditions prevailing among the day labourers in South Africa. We investigated the labour market outcomes (especially income) of day labourers after the Covid‐19 pandemic by focusing on day labourers, both local and foreign, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The methodology for our investigation was based on protocols used in other international and South African studies on var…
Economics (24 works) · Economic growth (23 works) · Geography (16 works) · Business (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Informal sector (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Development economics (9 works) · Livelihood (9 works) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (9 works)