South African Living Standards in Global Perspective, 1835–1910

Abstract

Differentiating between various types of colonies in order to explain their divergent paths of economic development is commonplace among economists and economic historians. Recently, specialists of African economic history have drawn attention to the more adverse economic effects of colonial rule in the so-called settler societies. These colonies were not only characterised by a more persistent form of inequality, but also by comparatively low and stagnant living standards for the native population. Employing data from the British colonial statistics, wage and price levels were established and used to compute real wages in South Africa – Africa's prime settler colony – between 1835 and 1910. These show a rising real wage trend for Europeans in South Africa, while the material wellbeing of the “coloured” workers did not improve; racial inequality thus increased during the 19th century. In addition, wage differentials between skilled and unskilled labourers reveal a high and rising skill premium, indicating a shortage of human capital. Global comparisons demonstrate that South African real wages were on a par with Europe and higher than in Asia. Finally, it is shown that Africans were not necessarily better off in non-settler societies.

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