ACCESSING THE FIRST JOB IN A SLACK LABOUR MARKET: JOB MATCHING IN SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT Little is known about job matching in labour markets with mass unemployment. Using a unique data set of labour market experiences of young African job participants in South Africa, our findings show that accessing jobs through various employment channels is non‐random. Specifically, different individual, household, job and firm characteristics are correlated with the probability of accessing the first job via a particular channel, indicating that firms and/or job seekers select themselves into the use of these channels in their recruitment and job search strategies. Further research using panel data and/or matched employer–employee data is needed to unpack these associations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.