Towards Employment-Intensive Growth in South Africa

South Africa’s high rate of unemployment (25%) makes it a complete outlier compared with other middle-income countries. Indeed, the unemployment rate rises to 33% if discouraged workers are taken into account. It underpins extreme poverty and inequality and is a major contributor to social dislocation. If it were not for increased social payments, poverty would have continued to increase since the advent of democracy in 1994. Unemployment also represents a huge cost to growth. This book focuses on the growth path of the economy.