More effective infrastructure and business regulation

Growth has been insufficient to lower the persistently high level of unemployment, particularly among black low-skilled workers. Achieving a sustained increase in growth requires a stronger performance of the business sector. This chapter analyses how such a stronger performance can by supported by better infrastructure and business regulation. Infrastructure investment is being increased to address bottlenecks in many network sectors. However, a lack of an integrated planning approach may hamper optimal project selection. Moreover, there seems to be little focus on applying economic instruments to use infrastructure more effectively. Small and medium sized enterprises are key to raise private sector employment. However, they are faced with a large range of barriers that hinders their creation and expansion, including high levels of regulation and skill shortages. In addition, their growth potential is hampered by spatial use of land that limits economic opportunities and induces high commuting costs, particularly for low-wage workers, which reduces access to jobs.