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Viewing report
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Are Skilled and Unskilled Labour Complements or
Substitutes?. Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Aug 2008, Pages: 172
Would more skilled labour lower demand for those who
remain unskilled? Could cheaper capital decrease
unskilled employment? The world is experiencing
skill-biased shifts in labour demand, which makes it
particularly difficult for South Africa's new
democracy to improve conditions for its unskilled
and unemployed workforce. Governments see
training/education as the key to countering this
trend, but what happens to those who remain
unskilled? This book asks if more skills will raise
output such that demand for unskilled labour also
rises, or if the skilled will simply replace them.
It introduces the possibility of increased skill
supply stimulating the import of skill-biased
technologies, which could exacerbate skill-biased
demand shifts. Some segments of society call for
lower interest rates to expand employment, but this
book argues cheaper capital would replace labour and
raise unemployment. Practitioners concerned with
South Africa's high unemployment should consult this
book. Economists working on employment issues could
use this book to think about whether employment-
oriented policies may have unintended consequences
in their own developing countries.
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