Associate Professor: Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit
Prof Michael Rogan
BA (Washington-Seattle), MA, PhD (UKZN)
E-mail: m.rogan@ru.ac.za
Michael Rogan is an Associate Professor in Economics and Economic History at Rhodes University and an active member of the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) where he runs some of the largest projects. He is also a research associate in the global research-policy-action network WIEGO and a research affiliate at the Institute of Development Studies/International Centre for Tax and Development at the University of Sussex. He holds a PhD and a Master’s degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (Development) from the University of Washington in Seattle. Prof Rogan’s work over the past five years has focused largely on informal employment, gender, taxation, food security, education and skills development, and survey design.
Recent publications:
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Max Gallien, Michael Rogan, Vanessa van den Boogaard. (2025) ‘The taxed informal economy: Fiscal burdens and inequality in Accra’, World Development. 187: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106879.
Tamaryn Friderichs, Michael Rogan, and Seamus Needham. (2024). ‘Gendered labour market outcomes among South African technical and vocational education and training (TVET) completers’, Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training. 7(2): 35–52.
Martha Alter Chen, Erofili Grapsa, Ghida Ismail, Sarah Orleans Reed, Michael Rogan, and Marcela Valdivia. (2024) ‘COVID-19 and informal work: Degrees and pathways of impact in eleven cities around the world’ In COVID-19 and the Informal Economy: Impact, Recovery and the Future. Martha Chen, Michael Rogan, and Kunal Sen, (Eds.) Oxford University Press.
Michael Rogan and Caroline Skinner. (2024) ‘South Africa's informal economy and COVID-19: Differentiated impacts and an uneven recovery’ In COVID-19 and the Informal Economy: Impact, Recovery and the Future. Martha Chen, Michael Rogan, and Kunal Sen, (Eds.) Oxford University Press.
Siviwe Mhlana, Rachel Moussié, Sally Roever and Michael Rogan. (2024) ‘Informal employment and an inclusive recovery: What is missing from national economic recovery plans?’ In COVID-19 and the Informal Economy: Impact, Recovery and the Future. Martha Chen, Michael Rogan, and Kunal Sen, (Eds.) Oxford University Press.
Sally Roever and Michael Rogan. (2024) ‘Urban regulation for self-employed informal workers’. In Mapping Legalities: Urbanisation, Law and Informal Work. Thomas Coggin and Roopa Madhav (Eds). Routledge: London.
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Max Gallien, Michael Rogan and Vanessa van den Boogaard. (2023) ‘Mobile money taxation and informal workers: Evidence from Ghana's E-levy’ Development Policy Review. 41: doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12704
Tamaryn Friderichs, Gavin Keeton & Michael Rogan (2023) ‘Decomposing the impact of human capital on household income inequality in South Africa’, Development Southern Africa. 40(5), 997–1013.
Michael Rogan. (2022). ‘Taxation and the informal economy in the global South: strengthening the social contract without reciprocity?’ In Social Contracts and the Future of Work: A View from Informal Workers in the Global South. Sophie Plagerson, Marty Chen, Laura Alfers (Eds.). Edward Elgar.
Michael Rogan and Caroline Skinner. (2021) ‘The South African Informal Economy’. In Handbook of the South African Economy. (Arkebe Oqubay, Fiona Tregenna and Imraan Valodia Eds.) Oxford University Press.
Ana Carolina Ogando, Michael Rogan and Rachel Moussié. (2021) ‘Impacts of the bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√ pandemic and unpaid care work on informal workers’ livelihoods’. International Labour Review, Special Issue: “COVID-19 and the world of work” https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12332
Martha Chen, Michael Rogan, et al. (2021) ‘COVID-19 and informal work: Evidence from 11 cities’. International Labour Review, Special Issue: “COVID-19 and the world of work”. https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12221
Tamaryn Friderichs, Gavin Keeton & Michael Rogan (2021) ‘Measuring human capital in South Africa using a socioeconomic status human capital index approach’, Development Southern Africa, DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2021.1941779
Chen, M. Grapsa, E., Ismail, G., Rogan, M. et. al. (2021- In press). ‘COVID-19 and informal work: Evidence from 11 cities’. International Labour Review: https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12221
Steffen Otterbach, Hamid Reza Oskorouchi, Michael Rogan and Matin Qaim. (2021) ‘Using Google data to measure the role of Big Food and fast food in South Africa's obesity epidemic.’ World Development. Open Access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20304964
Michael Rogan and Caroline Skinner. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis and the South African informal economy: ‘Locked out’ of livelihoods and employment. NIDS-CRAM Working Paper No. 10. National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM).
Michael Rogan and Paul Cichello. (2020) ‘(Re)conceptualizing Poverty and Informal Employment.’ The Informal Economy Revisited Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future. (Martha Chen and Françoise Carré, Eds.) Routledge: London
Michael Rogan. (2020) ‘Agricultural production, the household ‘development cycle’ and migrant remittances: continuities and change in the Eastern Cape hinterland.’ In Migrant Labour after Apartheid: The Inside Story (Leslie Bank, Dorrit Posel and Francis Wilson, Eds.) HSRC Press: Cape Town.
Angelique Wildschut, Michael Rogan and Bongiwe, Mncwango. (2020) ‘Exploring the absorption into employment, of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) beneficiaries within the South African higher-education system’ Higher Education: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00450-z
Michael Rogan and Laura Alfers. (2019) ‘Gendered inequalities in the South African informal economy’. Agenda. 33(4): 91-102.
Michael Rogan and Laura Alfers. (2019) ‘Employment-based social protection in the global north and south: ‘Productivism, universalism and social citizenship’. Handbook of Social Policy and Development. (James Midgley, Rebecca Surender and Laura Alfers, Eds). Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham.
Michael Rogan and John Reynolds. (2019) ‘Trends in the working poverty rate (WPR) in post-apartheid South Africa, 1997-2012’ Development Southern Africa. https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2019.1590181
50 Free Downloads: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9gWxR27YyNiPa6QH4ipr/full?target=10.1080/0376835X.2019.1590181
Steffen Otterbach and Michael Rogan. (2019) ‘Exploring spatial differences in the risk of child stunting: Evidence from a South African national panel survey’ The Journal of Rural Studies. 39: 65-78.
Dorrit Posel and Michael Rogan. (2019) ‘Inequality, social comparisons and minimum income aspirations: Evidence from South Africa’ Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. 20(1): 94-111.
Michael Rogan (ed). (2019). Post-School Education and the Labour Market in South Africa. HSRC Press: Cape Town. Open access: full book available here https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/post-school-education-and-the-labour-market-in-south-africa.
Michael Rogan. (2019) ‘The post-school education and training landscape in South Africa: ‘Massification’ amidst inequality’ In Post-School Education and the Labour Market in South Africa. (Ed. Rogan, M.). HSRC Press: Cape Town. 1-16.
Michael Rogan. (2019) ‘Over-qualification and skills-utilisation in the graduate labour market: Evidence from two South African universities’ In Post-School Education and the Labour Market in South Africa. (Ed. Rogan, M.). HSRC Press: Cape Town. 103-120.
Erofili Grapsa, Bongiwe Mncwango and Michael Rogan. (2019) ‘Education and skills mismatch in the South African labour market’ In Post-School Education and the Labour Market in South Africa. (Ed. Rogan, M.). HSRC Press: Cape Town. 223-241.
Michael Rogan and Caroline Skinner. (2018) “The size and structure of the South African informal sector 2008-2014: a labour-force analysis.” In The South African Informal Sector: Creating Jobs, Reducing Poverty. (Ed. Fourie, F). Cape Town: HSRC Press, 77-102.
Paul Cichello and Michael Rogan. (2018) “Informal sector employment and poverty reduction in South Africa: the contribution of ‘informal’ sources of income.” In The South African Informal Sector: Creating Jobs, Reducing Poverty. (Ed. Fourie, F). Cape Town: HSRC Press, 226-252.
Michael Rogan. (2018) “Food poverty, hunger and household production in rural Eastern Cape households.” Development Southern Africa. 35:1, 90-104
First 50 downloads free: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MzxNn5e8ba2T4KxudMgs/full
Michael Rogan, Sally Roever, Martha Chen and Françoise Carré. (2017) “Informal employment in the global south: globalisation, production relations and ‘precarity’.” Research in the Sociology of Work Vol. 31: pages 307-333
Dorrit Posel and Michael Rogan. (2017). ”Inequality, social comparisons and minimum income aspirations: Evidence from South Africa”. ISER Working Paper No. 2017/3. Grahamstown: Institute of Social and Economic Research. Rhodes University
Inequality, Social comparisons and minimum income aspiration-Dorrit Posel and Michael Rogan(2017.03)
Ana Carolina Ogando, Sally Roever and Michael Rogan, (2017) “Gender and Informal Livelihoods: Coping Strategies and Perceptions of Waste Pickers in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 37 (7/8): 435-451
First 50 downloads free: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/eprint/VZUPCGPTMBBRV3IZB9IR/full
Steffen Otterbach and Michael Rogan. (2017). “Spatial differences in stunting and household agricultural production in South Africa: (re)-examining the links using national panel survey data”, ISER Working Paper No. 2017/2. Grahamstown: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University
Also published as: Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences, No. 13-2017
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/162797/1/893506001.pdf
/iser/sections/workingpaperseries/
Michael Rogan and John Reynolds, (2016) “Schooling Inequality, Higher Education and the Labour Market: Evidence from a Graduate Tracer Study in the Eastern Cape, South Africa” Development Southern Africa, 33 (3): 343-360
Michael Rogan, (2016) “Qualitative Perceptions of the Meaning of ‘Headship’ and Female Headship in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Social Dynamics, 42 (1): 175-195.
Michael Rogan, (2016) “Gender and Multi-Dimensional Poverty in South Africa.” Social Indicators Research, 126 (3): 987-1006.
Dorrit Posel and Michael Rogan, (2016) “Measured as Poor versus Feeling Poor in South Africa.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 17 (1): 55-73. Also published as a UNU-WIDER working paper: WIDER Working Paper 2014/133. Helsinki: World Institute for Development Economics Research- United Nations University
http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/2014/en_GB/wp2014-133/
Laura Alfers and Michael Rogan, (2015) “Health Risks and Informal Employment in South Africa: Does Formality Protect Health?” International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 21(3): 207-215.
Michael Rogan and John Reynolds. (2015). The working poor in South Africa, 1997-2012, ISER Working Paper No. 2015/4. Grahamstown: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University
The working poor in South Africa, 1997-2012 - Michael Rogan and John Reynolds (2015.4)
Last Modified: Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:27:08 SAST