This theme centres around our aim to better understand and address persistent disparities in education and labour market outcomes. A post-compulsory education can be key to fostering upward mobility but, often times, socioeconomic inequalities are replicated within education system itself. Furthermore, questions remain as to what extent educational success promotes equality in the labour market.
Current and past project involvement under this theme include:
Women in Economics in South Africa
This project aims to build a comprehensive database on women in the economics profession in South Africa. Similar databases are also being built under this initiative for several other African and South American countries. This project is funded by the International Economics Association under the Women in Leadership in Economics Initiative. Read more about this upcoming work here.
Education and labour market dynamics in a period of rapid education expansion: Building evidence from existing Ghanaian survey data sources
This project aims to address the broad question ‘What are the education, labour market, and intergenerational socioeconomic consequences associated with the expansion of education access in Ghana, and how do they differ for men and women?’ This project is funded by G2LM|LIC. Read more about this project here.
The COVID-19 health crisis and inequalities in post-school education in South Africa
COVID-19 saw system-wide closures of institutions, prompting concerns that existing household and institutional inequalities could deepen during this period. Siyaphambili researched changes in student performance and retention during 2020 and 2021. Read key insights from the project here. This research was funded by the Spencer foundation. Read more about this project here.
Social mobility from the middle to the top
This work fell under a partnership between the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research and the London School of Economics. To complement the extensive body of work on the dynamics of vulnerability and poverty alleviation, this projects aimed to ‘turn the telescope’ using a sociological lens, onto the structuring of privilege in South Africa and Ghana. Read our first working paper ‘The socio-economic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa: a social space perspective’ here. Read more about this project here.