Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41761761›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of industrial medicine2026

Inflation, Race, and Legislation-The Erosion in the Real Value of Monetary Compensation for Miners' Occupational Lung Disease in South Africa, 1973-2024.

Martin Nicol, Jim teWaterNaude, Barry Kistnasamy, Rodney Ehrlich

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of industrial medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Martin NicolInstitute for African Alternatives, Cape Town, South Africa.
Jim teWaterNaudeDiagnostic Medicine, Cape Town, South Africa.
Barry KistnasamyCompensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rodney EhrlichDivision of Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-5736-9237

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFor much of the 20th century, the South African mining industry had a statutory compensation system for pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis characterized by gross racial inequality. This study examines the impact of inflation over the period 1973-2024 on the real value of miners' lung disease compensation, including the effect of the dropping of formal racial discrimination after 1993.

methodsSources of information included legislation, government reports, notices, and Gazettes, and mining industry reports.

resultsFrom 1973 to 1993, high rates of inflation hollowed out the value of compensation for all miners, greater in absolute terms for white miners. From 1994, inflation continued to erode both the real value of compensation payments, and, with the rise in earnings for all miners, the percentage of annual earnings covered by these payments. Until 2017 there were a few sporadic increases in statutory payment amounts, but a cap on "allowable earnings" used to calculate compensation severely limited any gain. Underlying factors include historic underfunding of the Compensation Fund via the statutory employer levy, administrative disarray in the state compensation agency, and unanticipated political, economic and epidemic disruptions. Recent years have seen a restoration of financial and administrative stability, with some degree of reversal of long-term trends.

conclusionsAlthough formal Apartheid racial discrimination ended in 1994, inflation, and until recently legislative stasis, continued to disadvantage all miners with compensatable occupational lung disease. The system is currently undergoing legislative reform-including proper funding of operations but also with limitation on civil liability against employers. The question therefore remains open as to whether a fair and equitable system of compensation for miners will be achieved and sustained.

Indexed as

Inflation, EconomicMiningOccupational DiseasesRacismWorkers' CompensationHumansPneumoconiosisSouth AfricacompensationequityinflationsilicosisSouth Africatuberculosis

Identifiers

PMID41761761
PMCPMC13070282

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