Productivity

Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work Project

Project details

Duration

1 January 2022 - 31 July 2026

Development partner(s)

Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) & Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)

Reference

GLO/21/16/MUL

Location

South Africa

Contact

Teklu Kidane Project Manager

Additional details

Access project dashboard View all related project resources

The ILO has launched a programme to help address constraints to productivity growth and decent job creation. The Programme is built on the recognition that productivity is determined by the myriad of interfacing dynamics described above. It applies, as implied in the name, an ecosystems approach to improve productivity and working conditions.

Productivity needs to be understood beyond the level of the individual worker: productivity and decent work progress as part of a broad ecosystem where multiple powerful factors interact, including financial capital, materials and energy, skills and knowledge, or competition and collaboration. Policy can and should influence all of these factors.

The project focuses on two key industries, leather and footwear, and the automotive industry. These were chosen in line with the South African government’s sectoral development priorities and with the participation of an advisory committee, including employers’ and workers’ organisations. The SMEs in the sector, their respective value chains, and the policy environment that shapes them, together constitute the “slice” of the ecosystem (as illustrated in Figure 3 above) that will serve as the basis for projective interventions, with emphasis on productivity, decent work, gender equality, and sustainability, among other factors.

Launch of South Africa Productivity Ecosystem for Decent Work

Productivity factsheet.pdf - PDF 1.74 MB

The Productivity Ecosystem Approach

Relates to the legislative and regulatory environment and includes laws, policies, voluntary standards, and social norms. The programme will support national actors to analyse, review, and revise national policies or regulations with direct impact on productivity, informality and decent work defined as key constraints in the systems analysis. The Programme will further support the revision of national employment policies to align development of employment, labour markets and labour market institutions with inclusive structural transformation around the selected industries.
Level includes sector-specific functions that inform, support and shape productivity potential, such as industrial policies, information, skills, physical, regulatory, and social infrastructure, finance, raw materials, intermediate inputs, and access to markets. Interventions of the programme at this level aim to improve the performance of public and private actors related to these functions to address productivity and working condition challenges.
Relates to internal factors at the firm-level such as organizational and management processes that shape productivity and working conditions. These factors can be addressed by working with business development service providers to address common challenges to the creation of jobs with better working conditions and productivity within individual firms.

Sector Analysis

Systemic Sector Analysis of Leather and footwear

Despite having high levels of tariff protection, the sector has struggled over the years to be competitive. The industry faces several challenges that hinder growth and job creation.

Systemic Sector Analysis of the Automotive sector

The automotive supply chain in South Africa is complex and interconnected, involving multiple tiers of suppliers. The supply chain includes both local and international suppliers, emphasis on local.