Although South Africa achieved positive economic growth rates since the advent of democracy in 1994, the formal sector has not been able to absorb the annual increasing number of job-seekers on the market and solve the unemployment problem. The exercise of entrepreneurship, through business formations and expansions, is regarded as a vehicle for job creation and output expansion. According the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports, South Africa’s level of early stage total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) is rather low relative to other countries at a similar level of development. This is partly owing to skills and resource limitations. If more individuals could realistically be exposed to practical entrepreneurship education at the secondary school level, South Africa’s base for entrepreneurial capacity can be enhanced. This study uses quasi logistic regression to examine the probability of secondary school learners, in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Kwazulu-Natal province in South Africa, to start their own business in the future. It also probes the association between the socio-economic attributes of these learners and entrepreneurship. On the basis of a survey of 275 senior school learners from 5 schools, the regression results indicate that gender, ethnic background and having a role model as well as acquiring personal skills to run one’s own business are significant factors influencing an individual’s propensity to venture into small firm self-employment in the future. Black learners are perceived to have a significantly greater disposition to enter into business than other groups, and male scholars are found to have a greater probability of starting their own business than female. As potential entrepreneurs do not necessarily come exclusively from a business family background, the supply of effective entrepreneurship can be augmented, if more young individuals with the relevant skills endowment can start opportunity firms and necessity ventures.

Background: South Africa has made significant progress since the dawn of democracy in 1994. It registered positive economic growth rates and its real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increased from R42 849 in 1994 to over R56 000 in 2015. However, employment growth lagged behind GDP growth, resulting in rising unemployment. Aim and setting: Entrepreneurship brings together labour and capital in generating income, output and employment. According to South Africa’s National Development Plan, employment growth would come mainly from small-firm entrepreneurship and economic growth. Accordingly, this article investigates the impact unemployment and per capita income have on early stage total entrepreneurship activity (TEA) in South Africa, using data covering the 1994–2015 period. Methods: The methodology used is the dynamic least squares regression. The article tests the assertion that economic growth, proxied by real per capita GDP income, promotes entrepreneurship and that high unemployment forces necessity entrepreneurship. Results: The regression results indicate that per capita real GDP, which increases with economic growth, has a highly significant, positive impact on entrepreneurial activity, while unemployment has a weaker effect. A 1% rise in real per capita GDP results in a 0.16% rise in TEA entrepreneurship, and a 1% rise in unemployment is associated with a 0.25% rise in TEA. Conclusion: There seems to be a strong pull factor, from income growth to entrepreneurship and a reasonable push from unemployment to entrepreneurship, as individuals without employment are forced to self-employment as a necessity, survival mechanism. Overall, a long-run co-integrating relationship seems plausible between unemployment, income and entrepreneurship in South Africa.

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The quest for individual happiness and a better life for all is an important economic objective in countries as different as South Africa and France or Zimbabwe and Bhutan. Economists have focused attention on the effects of consumption, income and economic growth or development on well-being and whether economic growth can be the sole basis for delivering prosperity (Dutt & Radcliff , 2009; Jackson, 2010).  The search for happiness is an important individual and national economic goal.  In the Benthamite utilitarian tradition, happiness is the sum of all pleasures and pains. People often obtain or perceive their happiness from what they have in comparison with others.  At the macroeconomic level, more happiness may come from a sustained growth in GDP that enables households to enjoy an improved quality of life, with rising income, consumption and employment opportunities.  At the microeconomic or individual level, more income may also enable people to live happier and fuller lives relative to those who are poor.  But this accounts for only a small contribution to happiness. Life circumstances, such as marital status, health, having children and the nature of the working environment statistically make a greater contribution to happiness than income.

The pursuit of high economic growth is considered desirable as it generates an increase in a nation's wealth, income, employment and output. The rising income should enable consumers to purchase more goods and services, which in turn should result in enhanced utility and subjective happiness. Empirical studies suggest that higher income resulting from high rates of economic growth contribute to poverty alleviation and life satisfaction in low income countries. Higher income raises the happiness of the poor. In developed countries, higher income does not seem to "buy" higher happiness, once a threshold level of income is reached. This exploratory study seeks to examine the quantitative and qualitative sources of happiness. A higher absolute level of income is found to be significantly related to subjective happiness. Among the non-income factors, family togetherness, a good working environment and a higher level of education can contribute to making people happier. Happiness thus involves more than just economic growth and income. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2008 Economic Society of South Africa.