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Weekly Webinar Series Invitation: Watts Happening to Work? The Labour Market Effects of South Africa’s Electricity Crisis

Frequent electricity outages threaten to impede the benefits of expanded access achieved by many developing countries in recent decades. A large literature documents these negative effects, however almost none consider labour market effects. These are of particular interest given the labour market’s central role in determining socio-economic wellbeing, especially in high-unemployment contexts like South Africa where decent job creation is key to achieving meaningful poverty alleviation.
This week’s webinar is on a thought-provoking Southern Africa Toward Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme Working Paper by Professor Haroon Bhorat and Mr Timothy Köhler, which merges labour force survey microdata with high-frequency electricity supply and demand data to provide the first estimates of the relationships between scheduled electricity outages (load shedding) and labour market outcomes in South Africa.
