Rate My Professor Jabulile Monnakgotla

Jabulile Monnakgotla is a Junior Research Fellow at the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) in the School of Economics, Faculty of Commerce at the University of Cape Town. She holds a Masters in Economic Science (2013), an Honours in Economic Science (2011), and a Bachelors in Economic Science (2010), all from the University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to joining the DPRU, she worked as a research intern in the Budget Analysis Local Government unit at the Financial and Fiscal Commission. She began at the DPRU in 2016 as an intern researcher, advanced to Junior Research Analyst in 2018, and was appointed Junior Research Fellow in January 2022.

Her research interests and expertise encompass macroeconomics, finance, international trade, labour markets, development, and growth, with a particular focus on labour economics, institutions, inequality, and poverty. Key publications include the 2022 article “Crime and Inequality in South Africa: Non-Linear Outcomes Under Extreme Inequality” co-authored with Haroon Bhorat and others in Economic Development and Cultural Change, and the 2017 article “Amalgamation of South Africa’s Rural Municipalities: Is It a Good Idea?” in the Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance. Additional contributions include working papers on job quality in South Africa (2021), employment creation and skills gaps (2021), skills supply and demand (2020), and the socio-economic determinants of crime (2017), as well as reports on rural municipal funding and informal sector trends prepared for South African government departments. She has also contributed to fact sheets monitoring the performance of the South African labour market.