Ihsaan Bassier

Women are concentrated in companies that pay less overall. Shutterstock

April 30, 2025

Why are women paid less than men? New research in South Africa shows the company you work for makes the biggest difference

Ihsaan Bassier, University of Surrey and Leila Gautham, University of Leeds

A big part of the explanation for why women are paid less than men is the companies they work for.

Contract farm workers harvest grapes in the coastal region of the Western Cape of South Africa. Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images

May 7, 2024

Minimum wage for South African farm workers: study shows 2013 hike helped reduce poverty even though compliance was poor

Ihsaan Bassier, London School of Economics and Political Science and Vimal Ranchhod, University of Cape Town

The study provides reason for optimism about the effects of minimum wage policies on poverty.

The impact of extra cash payments introduced during the COVID pandemic in South Africa is being considered. Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Images

February 15, 2024

South Africa has spent billions in 4 years to create jobs for young people: how their wages affect the broader economy

Joshua Budlender, UMass Amherst and Ihsaan Bassier, London School of Economics and Political Science

When evaluating the costs and benefits of the employment programme, and similar ones such as social grants, ‘extra’ economic benefits need to be part of the calculation.

Workers sew garments at a textile factory in Cape Town, South Africa. Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images

January 19, 2023

Pay inequality is high in South Africa: bosses are part of the problem

Ihsaan Bassier, London School of Economics and Political Science

South Africa’s world-leading wage inequality has as much to do with what bosses are doing as it does with how educated or experienced workers are.

A woman walks past a market stall in Kliptown, Soweto.

July 31, 2020

South Africa needs better food price controls to shield poor people from COVID‑19 fallout

Ihsaan Bassier, UMass Amherst; Refiloe Joala, University of the Western Cape, and Thando Vilakazi, University of Johannesburg

We highlight the distressing rise in the prices of essential food products. We call for the urgent expansion of price controls, as well as an inquiry into the price-setting of major retailers.

Millions of poor South Africans rely on social grants, including the child support grant, just to survive. PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images

March 31, 2020

South Africa can – and should – top up child support grants to avoid a humanitarian crisis

Ihsaan Bassier, UMass Amherst; Joshua Budlender, UMass Amherst; Murray Leibbrandt, University of Cape Town; Rocco Zizzamia, University of Oxford, and Vimal Ranchhod, University of Cape Town

To support precarious households that can’t access existing relief during lockdown and its aftermath, the government should implement a temporary increase in the value of the child support grant.

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