South Africa's Segmented Labour Markets: Skill Formation and Occupational Mobility Under Apartheid, 1979-1993

Abstract

This article examines the changing basis of South African labour market and skill formation in the late Apartheid `reform' era of 1979-1993. It does so by arguing for the adoption of a `macro-institutional' model which focuses on the impact of both `macro' and `micro' processes on labour market formation. This is best achieved by combining the contributions of the American `segmented labour market' school, the British `Cambridge labour market' school and the more recent labour market insights emanating from the debate on post-Fordism. The article concludes by examining the extent to which Apartheid's labour market policies may constrain social and economic reconstruction in the post-Apartheid era. Affirmative Action strategies and post-Fordist macro-economic policies are specifically examined. The analysis suggests that these post-Apartheid policies carry the great risk of increasing rather than diluting racially discriminatory labour market segmentation.