Abstract

Post-apartheid South Africa has embarked on an ambitious programme of labour market reform in pursuit of 'dynamic efficiency' and 'redistributive justice'. It involves both legislation to promote equality among races and an institutional framework inspired by the European Social Model. We examine how this framework has fared over the past decade, in particular pinpointing the tension between adversarial traditions and the new social partnership, and between market-oriented economic policy and corporatist institutions. Our conclusion is that the system has performed reasonably well, but tackling the mass unemployment at the root of continued inequality is a far longer-term project.