The paper examines the politics of state job creation policy in South Africa. We focus on the construction industry, which is a major sector for job creation policy, especially through a large scale public works programme. We argue that, while the creation of jobs is framed by government as a path towards dignity and social inclusion for poor and unemployed citizens, the precarious reality of low-wage work in the construction industry undermines the potential pro-social effects of wage employment. Beneficiaries of job creation policy often experience frustration and alienation, and the construction sites on which they work are often marked by conflict and disruption. We describe two different forms that this conflict takes, on the one hand demanding wage work as a citizenship right, on the other eschewing generalized citizenship claims in favour of particularistic and exclusionary demands for jobs based on localized identities. These seemingly contradictory but intertwined types of conflict show the complexity of the relationship between state job creation and citizenship rights in an industry and an economy defined by precarious forms of employment.

本文考察了南非国家就业创造政策的政治。我们专注于建筑业，这是创造就业政策的一个主要部门，特别是通过大规模的公共工程计划。我们认为，虽然政府将创造就业机会视为贫困和失业公民获得尊严和社会包容的途径，但建筑行业低薪工作的不稳定现实削弱了有薪就业的潜在亲社会影响。创造就业政策的受益者经常会感到沮丧和疏远，他们工作的建筑工地往往充满冲突和破坏。我们描述了这场冲突的两种不同形式，一方面要求有薪工作作为公民权利，另一方面，避免普遍的公民身份要求，支持基于本地化身份的工作的特殊性和排他性要求。这些看似矛盾但相互交织的冲突类型表明，在一个由不稳定就业形式定义的行业和经济中，国家就业创造与公民权利之间关系的复杂性。