Satisfaction at work : the South African workplace regime in comparative perspective

Abstract

After three decades of democracy, South Africa continues to be a society characterised by some of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Furthermore, the high rates of material deprivation and income inequality in the country are symptomatic primarily of disparities inherent in the labour market. This situation is further compounded by a macroeconomic context of stagnating growth and a precarious economic outlook in the country. This has given rise to a complex set of politics, which focuses not only on the unequal distribution of labour market opportunities, but increasingly on the wide variance in the quality of work. These new risks have seen the rise of protest action around fair wages; tensions within trade unions around adequate representation of the needs of the working poor; concerns about basic conditions of employment, and political debates and demands for a living wage. In such contexts, generating a better understanding and conceptualisation of workers’ global assessment of their working conditions is imperative for supporting policy efforts, targeted at ensuring equal distribution of good quality jobs and subsequently advancing job labour market inclusion.

Against this background, the thesis investigates job satisfaction in post-apartheid South Africa. It analyses the nature, determinants, and trends in subjective perceptions of job quality, as measured through job satisfaction among the working population between 2005 and 2015, using representative data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS). The extent to which different work regimes create varied work outcomes as manifested in overall job satisfaction levels is considered by comparing South African data to Mexican and Australian data, drawing on the International Social Science Programme (ISSP) in 2005 and 2015.