Annual report 2006-2007

Abstract

Over the past two years the contradictions inherent in South Africa’s post-apartheid growth and development path have become increasingly evident. Growth has not managed to reduce very high levels of unemployment to a significant degree, and large numbers of people remain trapped in structural poverty. The emergence of a growing black middle class has helped reduce inter-racial inequality, but this is small consolation to those with insufficient and insecure incomes who scrape a living in low-wage jobs (sometimes called ‘the working poor’), engage in survivalist micro-enterprises in informal settlements and densely settled rural areas, or depend in large part on social grants. A key question for South Africa is thus: what policies can ensure more inclusive and poverty-reducing forms of economic development?