Despite experiencing one of the longest periods of
uninterrupted economic growth since the 1960s,
South Africa in the democratic era faces possibly
one of its most intractable policy challenges, namely
that of an extraordinarily high rate of unemployment.
By any reasonable assumption with regard to
country comparisons, South Africa thus has one of
the highest International Labour Organizationdefined
unemployment rates in the world. In this
upper middle-income country, the data show that,
on average over a 20-year period, one out of every
four members of the labour force is jobless. In the
period since 1994, though, employment has
steadily increased at a rate consistent with
economic growth. Of particular importance,
however, and the focus of this paper, is to try to
understand the nature of employment changes and
their impact in one particular sector, namely the
temporary employment services (TES) industry. The
sector, colloquially known in South Africa as the
‘labour broker’ sector, has grown rapidly and is now
a key feature of the South African economy and its
labour market.