Wage Labor, Precarious Employment,
and Social Inclusion in the Making
of South Africa’s Postapartheid
Transition
Franco Barchiesi
Abstract: During South Africa’s first decade of democracy, policies of social inclu-
sion and social citizenship have emphasized productive employment and the work
ethic in a context of fiscal discipline and public spending thrift. The government’s
institutional discourse contrasts, however, with a social reality in which most black
workers have confronted growing economic precariousness and the inability of
waged occupations to provide stable livelihoods above poverty levels. The article
discusses workers’ responses to these conditions with case studies of private and