Dr Claire Vermaak is a senior lecturer in economics. She holds a Bachelor of Science, a Bachelor of Commerce Honours, a Master of Commerce and a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She specialises in teaching data analysis skills (econometrics) and research methods, as well as labour economics, to post-graduate students.Dr Vermaak’s research focuses on the analysis of survey data to improve the well-being of individuals and households. This research makes both academic and public policy contributions, focusing on issues including the labour market (access to employment, the extent of low-wage work and the role of immigration), gender inequalities (in labour market outcomes, health and time use), and service delivery (the impacts of household electricity access and energy poverty).
Academic Qualifications
PhD (UKZN)
MCom (UKZN)
BCom(Hons) (Natal)
BSc (Natal)
Research Interests
Labour economics
Employment, unemployment and wages
Immigration
Household electricity access and usage
Energy poverty
Time use
Publications
ermaak, C. and Muller, C. (2019). “Do immigrants have better labour market outcomes than South Africans?” Development Southern Africa, forthcoming. DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0376835X.2019.1584549
Rathi, S.S. and Vermaak, C. (2018). “Rural electrification, gender and the labor market: A cross-country study of India and South Africa.” World Development 109, pp. 346-359.
Harris, G. and Vermaak, C. (2015). “Economic inequality as a source of interpersonal violence: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa.” South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences 18(1), pp. 1-13.
Posel, D., Casale, D., & Vermaak, C. (2014). “Job Search and the Measurement of Unemployment in South Africa.” South African Journal of Economics 82(1), pp. 66-80.
Kimemia, D., Vermaak, C., Pachauri, S. and Rhodes, B. (2014). “Burns, scalds and poisonings from household energy use in South Africa: Are the energy poor at greater risk?” Energy for Sustainable Development 18, pp. 1-8.
Vermaak, C. (2012). “Tracking poverty with coarse data: evidence from South Africa.” Journal of Economic Inequality 10(2), pp. 239-265.
Vermaak, C., Kohler, M. and Rhodes, B. (2009). “Developing Energy-based Poverty Indicators for South Africa.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics 21(2), pp. 163-195.
Recent topics supervised:
NEET status and mental health in South Africa: a longitudinal analysis
Time use among young NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) South Africans
A double disadvantage? A gender-sensitive analysis of African immigrants’ labour market outcomes in South Africa
Returns to education for the wage employed and self-employed in South Africa
Provincial variation in the effect of minimum wage laws in South Africa, 2000-2007
Social diversity and economic outcomes: the measurement of social fractionalisation in South Africa
Education and the gender wage gap in South Africa
The effects of marital status on labour market participation, employment and wages in Lesotho
The impact of the Child Support Grant on child health and education outcomes
