Recession and Recovery offers an assessment of the concrete impact that negative growth had in 2009 on the longer-term prospects for the creation of an equitable and just economic dispensation in South Africa. Successive editions of this publication have shown that the quest for economic transformation is a challenging one under the best of circumstances; the implications of a recession undoubtedly compound the magnitude of the task. Will South Africa sustain its transformational momentum in the economy in a context of shrinking government revenues, growing material insecurity and a substantial decline in employment levels? How will the new Zuma administration navigate its way through these troubled waters?

Although it is impossible to document in this volume the full impact of South Africa’s first economic contraction in 17 years, the selection of articles has been informed by a desire to single out those issues that could provide key pointers to the broader state of South Africa’s economic transformation in one of the most challenging years since democratisation. At the same time, this publication seeks to look beyond the major setbacks of the past years and to ask pertinent questions about the prospects for recovery and the challenges that the country will have to prepare itself for in this regard.

As in previous years, the Audit’s central objective remains to provide an uncompromising, authoritative annual analysis by the country’s leading analysts and emerging thinkers of the state of socio-economic transformation. As such, the insights contained in Recession and Recovery once again provide fresh perspectives on the publication’s four areas of emphasis: the macro-economy, the labour market, skills and education, and poverty and inequality. Together, the various contributions provide groundwork to inform the deeper debates that are required to map the road to greater prosperity for all South Africans.

Edited by Jan Hofmeyr
Pages: 154
Dimensions: A4
Date of publication:  2009
ISBN: 978-1-920219-17-8