The employment effect of economic growth: introducing the South African economy

This introductory chapter presents a short review of the progress that the South African economy has made since the economic and financial crisis. It begins by contextualising the three main challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality bedevilling the economy. The global crisis and its recovery are then contextualised in terms of South Africa. Lastly, the chapter looks at the road ahead and concludes with some predictions for the future. This discussion is meant to set the scene for the chapters in Part 2, which discuss the economy in more detail (Chapters 6-9).