Continuity and Change in South African Labor Market Regulations: the Impact of Employment Equity Act of 1998 on Employment Strategies of Firms

r4d Working Paper 2016/1 by Wayde Flowerday, Neil Rankin and Volker Schöer

ABSTRACT: This paper concludes that there is a high possibility that the introduction of the Employment Equity Act of 1998 has created a distortion in employment which has resulted in an inefficient allocation of resources at a firm level. What results is a lower employment of labour, particularly at the small, medium enterprise level, marking the intended effect of the particular Act as counterproductive.