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Public awareness of the unequal distribution of economic opportunities across the territory of South Africa has been hampered by limited information and analysis. This paper makes use of a new source of spatial economic statistics to illuminate key features of the country’s economic geography. We reveal the striking concentration of employment in cities and discuss both the quantity and character of these jobs. The metros have a more favourable and diverse economic structure than towns and rural areas. However, most have performed poorly over the last decade, thereby dragging down the national economy. The release of the new dataset should encourage further research on spatial inequalities and labour market dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of services embedded in manufactured products in world trade has greatly increased since the 1980s. So too has services as a direct export. South Africa is an interesting case of an emerging economy that has struggled to diversify its export basket beyond basic commodities, despite having a robust domestic service sector. The article assesses the contribution of service exports to international trade in South Africa. Balance of payments data confirm that services trade is modest compared to merchandise trade. Exports in higher-value services show strong growth, although off a low base. Yet certain kinds of international linkages are not counted in official trade statistics. These service firms are also more productive, report higher output and usually pay better wages than those focused on the domestic market – as mirrored in studies of manufacturing exports. We advocate for further research and greater recognition of tradable service exports in trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The poor performance of the South African economy has been widely analysed, yet this disguises considerable internal variation, both between sectors and regions. Most disaggregated analysis focuses on national industry trends and neglects the role of geography. We undertake a shift‐share analysis with multifactor partitioning to decompose the growth performance of provinces into nationwide industry and region‐specific (or 'place‐based') shares between 1995 and 2018. The main finding is that place‐based effects explain as much of the variation in growth as nationwide industry effects in most provinces. This implies that the economic capabilities of each region need careful consideration as part of national growth strategies and reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social housing has the potential to contribute to economic inclusion and urban integration if it is well-located. However, this is complicated by economic forces that shape land and property markets and constrain the ability of social housing organisations to afford suitable sites for development on the open market. The paper shows how South Africa's transformative vision for social housing has been diluted by the gradual spatial drift of projects from the accessible urban core towards outlying areas. Poor coordination has meant that social housing organisations have operated in relative isolation without the consistent government support required to obtain surplus public land in well-situated areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Services are the fastest growing portion of world trade and now account for nearly a quarter of global exports. This presents opportunities for emerging economies to adapt and enter new markets. Many countries in southern Africa have struggled to diversify from a heavy reliance on primary commodities towards manufacturing industries. Tradable services could contribute to economic growth and development by bolstering industrial capabilities, facilitating productivity growth, and contributing directly to exports. We examine evidence on international services trade for the Southern African Development Community between 1995 and 2012. Tradable services appear to have made a limited contribution to total trade for most countries, and there is little evidence of significant regional integration or specialisation in higher value-added activities. The role of tradable services is an important policy and research agenda that warrants much more attention all round. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the limitations of using data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) to estimate robust sub-national labour market indicators in South Africa. The precision of labour market indices in the QLFS is very sensitive to which geographic scale is examined – national, provincial or metro – and in each instance the size of the population of the province or metro. The results show that errors from sampling at regional and city levels may be prohibitively large although in some instances broad patterns between regions can be identified notwithstanding a fairly blunt instrument. The findings highlight the imperative to be transparent about sampling errors and to foster sensitivity within government, business and the public in general. This exercise is instructive for generating other regional socio-economic indicators that are based upon similar household sample surveys such as the General Household Survey, Living Conditions Survey and Income and Expenditure Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two very different pictures emerge when one compares income changes of the relatively affluent ‘middle class' with those of households in the literal middle of the income spectrum. In the affluent middle there has been significant racial transformation and growth of the ‘black middle class'. However, households in the actual middle of the income spectrum have experienced the lowest income growth of all groups since 1993. Both perspectives are crucial in the pursuit of a more equitable path of development and have important implications for policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we revisit ‘what and who’ is middle class in South Africa using data collected in the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study. First, we consider how to identify the middle class based on two broad definitions adopted in the international economics literature: a middle class defined by the middle share of the national income distribution; and a middle class defined by an absolute level of affluence and lifestyle. We explore alternative ways of capturing the ‘middle income strata’ and we suggest an approach for identifying threshold levels of income associated with middle-class affluence. Second, we show that the size and the composition of the middle class in South Africa are both very sensitive to how the middle class is defined. In particular, we demonstrate that there is very little overlap between the two broad definitions, a finding which reflects very high levels of poverty and inequality in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inclusive development is the seductive idea that a more dynamic and productive economy can go hand in hand with reduced inequality and exclusion. This requires crafting together different values and realities, through cooperation and negotiation between different economic and social interests. This is particularly difficult in South Africa (SA) because of the deep-seated social divisions and stagnant economy. The dominant discourses emphasise either 'growth and redistribution' or 'radical economic transformation'. Both are driven from above, by national government. Neither recognise the value of mobilising the energy and talents of different communities and institutions within cities and regions to engage in democratic renewal and to support joint efforts to enhance skills, build capabilities, create assets, generate jobs, and improve livelihoods. Tracking progress through carefully chosen indicators can provide timely feedback and assist learning, to ensure that bold initiatives actually work and can be scaled up to achieve greater equity while expanding economic opportunities. Cities have considerable potential to combine prosperity with social inclusion, and thereby provide pathways out of poverty - but this is not automatic or inevitable, because a flourishing urban economy can also squeeze out the poor through the housing market. Proactive policies are required to manage the process of urban land and property development in ways that accommodate in-migrants and prevent social exclusion. A positive approach to investment in marginalised groups and communities is also necessary, so that they can develop and prosper over time, and reciprocate through higher productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]