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ALTMAN M. (1996) Labour regulation and enterprise strategies in the South African clothing industry, Reg. Studies 30, 387-399. This paper explores the impact of regional differences in labour regulation on the accumulation strategies of firms in the South African clothing industry. A strong positive relationship was found between dominant accumulation strategies and forms of local regulation. In the context of a footloose industry, South African clothing firms should have been able to make use of differences in labour regulation on a national space. Yet, this study found that firms took advantage of differences in labour regulation available to them in their immediate vicinity only. In particular, very few firms ventured further than a one-hour drive in their decentralizing activities. Firms in the urban areas that were not proximate to areas ensuring low cost and unorganized labour adopted new technologies and operational methods such as unit production systems. Firms with head offices in urban areas situated within a one-hour drive to areas with less democratic wage determination systems did not adopt modern operational systems. Instead, they emphasized labour cost reduction accumulation strategies. The main strategy entailed production decentralization to the regions with more stringent controls on worker organization and pay scales that were a fraction of those in urban areas. ALTMAN M. (1996) Regulation du travail et strategies d'entreprise dans l'industrie de l'habillement en Afrique du Sud, Reg. Studies 30, 387-399. Cet article examine l'impact des differences regionales de la regulation du travail sur les strategies d'accumulation des entreprises de l'industrie de l'habillement en Afrique du Sud. Il s'est avere une correlation tres positive entre les strategies d'accumulation dominantes et les diverses formes de regulation locale. Dans le contexte d'une industrie mobile, les entreprises de l'industrie de l'habillement en Afrique du Sud auraient du beneficier des differences de la regulation du travail sur le plan national. Toujours est-il que cette etude a trouve que les entreprises n'ont profite que des differences de la regulation du travail en vigueur dans l'immediat. En particulier, rares ont ete les entreprises qui ont demenage leurs activites a decentraliser a plus d'une heure de conduite. Les entreprises situees dans des agglomerations urbaines qui n'etaient pas a proximite des regions qui assuraient une main-d'oeuvre bon marche et non syndiquee, ont adopte de nouvelles technologies et methodes operationnelles telles que des systemes de production a l'unite. Les entreprises dont le siege se trouvait dans les agglomerations urbaines situees a moins d'une heure de conduite des regions ou les systemes de determination des salaires s'averent moins democratiques, n'ont pas adopte des systemes operationnelles modernes. Elles ont plutot souligne des strategies d'accumulation relatives a la reduction du cout de la main-d'oeuvre. La principale strategie a necessite la decentralisation de la production aux r...

There is a sense of mystery and frustration that the SA economy has not grown as much as expected nor generated employment in the 1990s. GEAR incorrectly assumed that growth would be premised on foreign direct investment, which was meant to spur new value-adding industries and related clusters. It is not surprising that this did not occur. The SA economy can be characterized as a minerals economy, with a small market and low skill levels. Hence, most foreign investment is attracted to resource extraction, basic beneficiation or government-generated opportunities. There are many indications that SA suffers from the 'resource curse'. The dominance of basic minerals and metals in SA's export profile contributes to business cycle volatility, making it difficult for more employment-generating domestic market-oriented firms to expand. How can a resource-based economy shift its competitive advantage so that the composition of its domestic production and export profile reflect a higher value added? Why and how is this relevant to employment generation? Some authors argue that the promotion of higher value-added, higher productivity tradeables is inappropriate in a labour surplus economy. This paper argues that a sustainable industrial strategy in SA must rely on the development of a core of higher productivity or higher value industries: these industries are reflective of SA's cost structure and would support a dynamic or virtuous development cycle. It is the incomes and demand from these industries that support employment multipliers in the low productivity, job-creating industries. In a context of extremely high household dependency ratios and low wage elasticities, it is argued that the incomes from the high productivity core would have a more important impact on household welfare, and direct and indirect employment generation, than would a strategy that relies on a core of low wage, low productivity industries. Job creation is more likely to be found in the promotion of low productivity non-tradeables and non-traded goods and services, but the expansion of these activities will rely on the stable generation of incomes and foreign exchange from higher value tradeables. Domestically, this (or any) strategy relies on improved coordination of 'markets'. It is argued that the main supply constraints in South Africa lie in under-developed and poorly coordinated contingent markets, namely for labour and finance: this is not simply a problem related to price flexibility, but rather to the orientation of embedded institutions. In this context, an 'equilibrium' could be achieved at relatively low levels of employment. To unblock these supply constraints, and promote an integrated industry strategy, a number of policy levers are identified. In addition to improving the general investment environment, the movement from the minerals base will require a targeted technology policy and the use of 'second-best' policy tools where government leverages-in new forms of investment and behaviour. Low-productivity mass employment is suppor...

This paper explores scenarios for employment creation, with an emphasis on services. It considers whether the government's current policies for the formal services sector will achieve its 2014 target of halving unemployment. New employment has mainly been found in the formal and non-formal services, and future employment will probably come from such sectors as business services, trade, finance and tourism. As at 2004, about 480�000 new jobs were needed annually to halve unemployment from 26.2 per cent to 13 per cent by 2014. This would require at least twice the average annual job creation since 1994. Two scenarios are considered: the first under current conditions with similar rates of growth; the second with substantial improvements in policy, especially the promotion of trade in services. The first scenario leaves the economy with the same rate of unemployment in 2014. The second sees a reduction in unemployment of 20 per cent.