African Participation in the Wage-Economy and the Task of Responsible Companies

Abstract

I must explain at the start that my knowledge of the Rhodesian economy is very limited: I do not propose to examine the Rhodesian case directly. I have some knowledge of labour markets in certain African countries north of the Zambezi, and also of labour markets south of the Limpopo. Comparisons with countries to the north and to the south may well provide some valuable insights and inferences for the Rhodesian case. Economically — as well as geographically — Rhodesia lies somewhere in between them. Politically, the balance of power in Rhodesia is at present not dissimilar to that in South Africa. On the other hand, the future seems to indicate a transfer of power in the direction of that prevailing in some African countries to the North. I shall want to argue that the task of responsible companies in matters of African employment is closely bound up both with the country’s level of economic development and with the political system within which the economy operates. I wish to concentrate on two issues, the level of unskilled wages and the structure of earnings.