Dr Claire Vermaak

Senior Lecturer

Discipline

Economics

vermaakc@ukzn.ac.za

031 260 2577

Westville

J Block room 304

Biography

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.

School of Accounting, Economics and Finance