South Africa dreams of being a winning nation even as it wallows in mediocrity. Claire Bisseker confronts the lies SA tells itself about the economy.

SA’s recovery is becoming more and more fragile. A toxic mix of rising domestic inflation and slower global growth is suppressing the outlook for the economy. Growth is now expected to slow to about 2,8% this year – too little to dent high unemployment.

Though the private sector is and should remain the main source of job creation, the backlog of unemployment and the numbers of new entrants into the labour market each year are simply too large for a private sector the size of SA’s to absorb. 

“No matter how successful employment policy is, it is quite certain that severe unemployment and under employment will persist,” says HSRC executive director Miriam Altman. “The problem has simply become too big for market-based solutions to solve within the next 10- 20 years.”

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