Our next guest wrote a new research note using spatial economic activity data to uncover the underperformance of cities in the last decade when it comes to employment opportunities. In this research, the paper explores and compares the findings of six metropolitans: Cape Town, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni, Mangaung and eThekwini. The study noted that while the City of Cape Town is the best performing when it comes to economic opportunities at 20%, Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha) has declined by 5% despite being the home of multiple automotive factories and the worst performing city for employment. Johannesburg placed second from last. Their research findings reveal that metros have underperformed over the past decade due to Infrastructure failures, governance challenges, and economic stagnation. These challenges pose a risk to the country’s prosperity.

In this hour, we unpack how this administrative data can help us find out not only the quantity but the character of jobs in each location. This will help us understand what we need to do to build cities that contribute in driving economic recovery, develop effective policies and socially inclusive transformation. Only two metropolitans have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. To tell us more about this work, we are joined by…

Guest: Dr Justin Visagie - Senior Research Specialist in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) research division of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)