Unemployment in the Progression of the Gear Strategy

Itumeleng Ledwaba LDWITU001
Group no.:51
Unemployment in the progression of the GEAR strategy

When the new, first democratic government of South Africa stepped to duty in 1994, a lot of work needed to be done, from the building of houses for the poor to equal rights for all. Therefore, the government had to come up with strong structures or rather policies to serve and develop the new democratic country. Hence RDP (the Reconstruction and Development Programme) was adopted to do as the name suggests: to reconstruct and develop the country. In 1996, the government adopted a new macroeconomic strategy called Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR). In this essay, I will analyse and discuss the main objectives of the GEAR strategy so as to evaluate the progression of the strategy since was first adopted in 1996.
In evaluating the progression of the GEAR policy, it is clearly not easy to isolate a single objective within the policy for analysis as these objectives are closely related or interdependent. Therefore considering the structures or tools available to implement the policy, a lot (such as the role of the South African reserve bank (SARB) and that of the government in achieving the goals outlined in the GEAR policy) needs to be analysed and discussed. Before I discuss the implications of the GEAR policy, I will highlight the key objectives of the policy. The GEAR policy aimed to achieve a 6% annual growth rate; to redistribute land, income, and opportunities in favour of the poor; and most importantly for the public, to create sufficient jobs for all work-seekers. i.e create 400 000 jobs a year by the year 2000. Since unemployment/ employment relates to inflation, growth etc, I’ll thoroughly discuss the GEAR policy’s progression around employment since adopted in the year 1996. South Africa reportedly had the highest rate of unemployment in the world in 1996, according to a comprehensive review of South Africa's labour-market and economic...