TEBA Mine Recruiting¶
District and station-level mine labor recruiting data from The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA, formerly NRC — Native Recruiting Corporation).
Key Files¶
| File | Description |
|---|---|
district_recruiting_panel.csv |
District-year recruiting (1,674 obs, 1973-1978) |
teba_panel_v6.csv |
Latest consolidated panel |
station_district_crosswalk_v4.csv |
TEBA station to magisterial district mapping |
nrc_recruits_by_office_1952_1985.csv |
Recruiting by office, long series |
regional_office_recruiting_1952_1982.csv |
Regional office aggregates |
district_station_proximity.csv |
Distance-based station assignments |
UJ Archive Books (2026-03-28/29)¶
uj_books_extracted/ — 9,000+ rows from 21 NRC/WNLA annual reports (1957-1969), extracted via Claude Vision API. Extends recruiting data back to the 1950s.
| Year | Books | Rows | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | 1 | 503 | WNLA annual report |
| 1959 | 2 | 975 | NRC domestic (Parts 1-2) |
| 1960 | 2 | 815 | WNLA + NRC |
| 1961 | 1 | 380 | WNLA annual report |
| 1962 | 7 | 3,443 | WNLA (4 parts) + NRC (3 parts) |
| 1963 | 2 | 362 | WNLA + NRC |
| 1964 | 2 | 418 | WNLA + NRC |
| 1966 | 2 | 1,358 | WNLA + NRC |
| 1967 | 1 | 416 | WNLA annual report |
| 1969 | 1 | 397 | WNLA annual report |
Batch extraction in progress (2026-03-29): 16 remaining PDFs (1959 WNLA, 1961 NRC, 1962 NRC Parts 2/3/5, all 1965, 1967 NRC, all 1968). Processing via Claude Vision.
NRC Wage Files (NEW 2026-03-29)¶
nrc_wages_extracted/ — 8 files containing wage schedules from NRC board memoranda (1973-1976). Extracted via Gemini Vision API. Key source for understanding wage changes during the 1974 crisis.
Coverage¶
- Period: 1957-1985 (1957-1969 from UJ books, 1973-1985 from existing panel)
- Geography: Magisterial district, TEBA station, and regional office level
- Content: Number of recruits, by origin district/region, over time
Context¶
TEBA was the centralized recruiting arm of the South African mining industry. Under the Native Labour Regulation Act of 1911, districts were classified as "open" (where mine recruiting was permitted) or "closed" (where white farmers had successfully lobbied to restrict recruiting to protect their labor supply).
The 1974 mine labor crisis — triggered by the gold price boom and collapse of Mozambican and Malawian labor supply — forced the opening of previously closed districts. This creates the treatment variation for the 1974 shock paper (Boone & Wilse-Samson), though the district-level DiD is specification-sensitive (significant in pooled OLS, null in TWFE). The national-level shock — tripling of Black mine wages, substitution of 130,000 foreign workers with domestic labor — is the robust finding. The open/closed classification remains important for understanding the Eiselen electoral divergence (+6.3pp right-wing shift in eastern districts by 1987).
Provenance¶
- Source: TEBA/NRC board memoranda, annual reports, station records
- Key document: NRC File B1061 Pad 2 (1974 memo classifying district potential)
- Source PDFs:
raw_archives/06_mining/teba_archive/ - Digitization status: UJ books ~57% digitized (21/37 complete, 16 in progress); NRC wage files 100% (8/8); board memoranda assessed