Globalization and the labour market in South Africa

The paper examines the impacts of globalization on labour in South Africa. A framework is developed to link different aspects of the process of globalization with labour market outcomes in developing countries. This framework is then applied to the South African case focusing on trade, foreign direct investment, technology transfer, macro‐economic policies and the impact on the bargaining power of labour. The paper concludes that although globalization is only one of the factors affecting the South African labour market in recent years, the outcomes for labour, particularly unskilled labour, have been unfavorable.