ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief description of the historical development of manufacturing in South Africa and an explanation as to why manufacturing growth and employment creation have occupied centre stage in government strategies for development post-1994. However, as the first section of the chapter shows, expectations have not been met – manufacturing output growth has been modest and employment has declined consistently. This has occurred despite the pursuit of an (increasingly) active industrial policy. South Africa’s industrial policy is the subject of the fourth section of the chapter in which policy is outlined and briefly critiqued. The concluding section suggests that, albeit inadvertently, some elements of industrial policy may have constrained output and, in particular, limited the employment intensity of manufacturing growth. Further advances in manufacturing output and employment will require other policy measures – most notably labour market reform and an expansion in the supply of skills.
