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Since 1994, there has been a doubling in the enrolment of students in South Africa's public universities. Students, especially first-generation students, face numerous challenges that may impact their subjective perceptions of their well-being. In a milieu of high levels of suicide and depression amongst South Africa's student population, the understanding of the variables determining students' subjective well-being (SWB) should be deepened. This article investigates the levels and changes in the SWB of successive groups of first-year students at a comprehensive university in South Africa between 2014 and 2017. It makes use of a fit-for-purpose survey instrument. The results show that the SWB of students is influenced positively by their living arrangements and variables that have a direct influence on the educational environment in which they operate, such as feeling 'at home' and an overall level of satisfaction of the students' experience at the university. Negative variables that influence the SWB of students include concerns regarding finances and upcoming tests, and living on campus or within walking distance of campus.

While objective class dynamics have received much attention in South Africa, less is known about the subjective social positions individuals place themselves in. For example, in a highly unequal society like South Africa, some individuals would overestimate (inflate) or underestimate (deflate) their social position compared to their objective class position. This paper aims to provide further information on status inconsistency in South Africa by assessing some of the socioeconomic determinants of bias perceptions. Using International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data and a multinomial probit model, the results show that education and race play a significant role in influencing the biased perceptions of individuals in South Africa. For example, individuals with higher education levels have a stronger tendency to deflate their social position, while Coloreds, Indians/Asians, and whites tend to inflate their social positions more than Africans. The results indicate the vital role of race and education in determining status inconsistencies in a society that is still suffering from high levels of racial and education inequality due to the lingering legacy of apartheid. The results provide a better understanding to policymakers and government on the dynamics behind social status perceptions in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the factors that determine survival migrants' intention to stay in their host country, using a survey of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia and analysed by means of a binary regression model. A theoretical framework that explains the intention to stay was derived from the theory of return migration and confirmed the importance of both meso‐level and macro‐level factors in migrants' intention to stay. A macroeconomic comparison confirmed that macro‐level factors played a role in the decision to migrate and stay. With respect to meso‐level factors, we found that survival migrants' intentions deviate from those of voluntary migrants since ties to their home country were not significant influences on their intention to stay. In contrast, factors that strengthen or weaken structural integration and ties to the host country were often highly significant, as were factors that influenced survival migrants' knowledge of the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of sovereign nations have a formal credit rating from more than one credit rating agency in order to bridge the potential informational gap that goes with only one formal rating. This study investigates the behavior of rating agencies to determine if the African sovereign ratings by the three major credit rating agencies are different and if their rating actions have any influence on each other. The lead–lag relationships between the agencies are investigated by making use of a method similar to the Granger causality test in an ordered probit pooled-data and individual country time-series setting. The monthly rating changes for the three agencies were used for 12 African countries from 2009 to 2018. The results show that when general rating changes are taken into account, Moody's follows Fitch in more instances than Fitch follows Moody's. Furthermore, when upgrade and downgrade actions are taken into account, Standard and Poor's leads Fitch during all downgrade periods and in some periods after a rating upgrade. It is also shown that Fitch leads Moody's during all downgrade periods and in some periods after a rating upgrade. In terms of individual country results, for 7 of the 12 countries, there is no evidence of herding or habit behavior between any of the rating pairs. Herding behavior was identified between different pairs of rating agencies for Angola, Egypt, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tunisia. Fitch exhibits habit behavior for Mozambique, whereas Standard and Poor's shows contrarian habit behavior for that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa S high levels of car-related crime and spiralling unemployment have resulted in the development of a distinctive South African practice where people are looking after vehicles in shopping malls ' parking sites in exchange for a fee during the last 25 years. People who have lost their work or who never had a formal job in the past could work as a car guard in South Africa. Here, they enjoy little if any of the protection that the labour dispensation provides formal workers. They are therefore indeed an extremely vulnerable group in the informal sector. This article is based on a survey among 110 car guards in Roodepoort and Crown Mines in 2017 with the aim to investigate the socio-economic vulnerability of car guards. Car guards are both socially and economically vulnerable. Besides earning a low income, they are also required to pay a considerable portion of their income to shopping centres or car guard agencies. The average car guard in the survey earns between R7.31 and R21.94 per hour. The average fee per hour was calculated at R12.60 at the time of the survey. The current minimum hourly wage in South Africa is R20. This implies that the average car guard earns less per hour than the official minimum wage in the country If one keeps in mind that these are gross amounts (the car guards must often pay a daily fee to a car guard organisation from this income), then the economic vulnerability of car guards is obvious. Their economic situation is therefore extremely vulnerable. This vulnerability is worsened by the uncertainty with regard to future income. Their working conditions expose them to various health risks as they are prone to fluctuating weather conditions, such as severe heat and cold, on a daily basis. If they do not work (because of, for example, illness), they earn no income. The researchers identified several possible limitations during the research. In some instances, the language proficiency of the foreign born car guards was indeed a challenge. In these cases, fellow car guards were able to act as interpreters in order to complete the interview. We realise that the sample cannot be used to generalise conclusions for the whole of South Africa. However, the results broadly corroborate the results of surveys in Pretoria (Steyn 2018) and Durban (Foster & Chasomeris 2017). It should be clear that car guards, as is the case with other groupings in the informal economy (e.g. day labourers and waste pickers), experience vulnerability on both social and economic levels. The results of this survey emphasise that a number of questions and uncertainties in terms of the car guard industry remain. These require the attention of researchers. One of the most important points on any future research agenda, will have to be the role of car guard agencies as labour brokers. These brokers apparently take very few risks, yet receive a significant portion of the tips earned by car guards. It is crucial that their role and activities be analysed economically. The second critical aspect requiring further research, is the role of foreign born migrants in the car guard industry in South Africa. This is a conclusion based on this article but also corroborated by the work of Steyn (2018). The mere fact that such a high proportion of car guards in this survey is foreign born, puts a new perspective on the future analysis of the industry. This issue can no longer be ignored. South Africa remains a destination of choice for many immigrants who have to leave their country of origin for political and economic reasons. The renewed economic crisis in, for example, Zimbabwe and the lack of food and employment opportunities in other Southern African countries are push factors which inevitably result in a constant supply of immigrants to South Africa. Once here, they often compete with South African citizens for limited opportunities in the informal economy. These foreign workers are especially vulnerable. They enjoy little if any protection under the law. They are, furthermore, prone to being arrested, or paying bribes and under threat of possible deportation. The lived experiences of these foreign car guards need urgent investigation to better comprehend their vulnerability, allowing us to formulate sound and informed policy and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]