Author Description

Analysts of the South African labour market have predominantly used household surveys to analyse the labour market. It has been more di - cult to explore labour demand from the rm side, as a result of limited data from relatively small cross sectional rm surveys, mainly funded by the World Bank. We use the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa that allows us to explore how South African enterprises create and destroy jobs, shedding light on many of the policy questions that are relevant in a high unemployment society like South Africa. We nd job creation and destruction rates are similar to those found in OECD countries. There is little evidence that labour legisla- tion creates rigidities that prevent rms from hiring or ring workers. We also nd that larger rms are better net creators of jobs than small rms and that net job creation rates are negative in manufacturing, con- sistent with work using household surveys. Our research has important policy implications- particularly for the National Planning Commission's suggestion that new jobs will come mainly from small and medium sized rms. Our research suggests this is not likely without changes to policy or legislation.