I exploit the sudden increase in employment in 1975, 1976 and 1977 in some former
homelands by comparing the long term adult physical outcomes of children benefitting from
the employment increase to those not subject to it. Using a standard difference in difference
approach I find that there was some malnutrition in the homelands resulting in stunting in
African men born during the shock providing support to the foetal origins hypothesis. The
employment shock did not affect other long term outcomes such as education and general
health, although there is some evidence of an improvement in long term health. This study
provides previously unmeasured individual level information on the quality of life in the
homelands during apartheid, an era when African living standards were neglected but
unmeasured because of a lack of data collection.