Transport is the heartbeat of the economy; it facilitates trade, constructions and helps people reach their homes, schools and work places. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Gauteng Provincial Government has dedicated October as Transport month. The campaign, which was first launched in October 2005, is organised by the Department of Transport. Its aim is to raise awareness of the importance of transport in the economy. Through this campaign, the Department of Transport also wants to invite civic society and businesses to participate in providing a safer, more affordable, accessible and reliable transport system for the country. Some of the activities planned by the Department of Transport for this campaign are: Think Pedestrian Golf Day, Non-motorised Transport (NMT) Conference and Greening Cycle Ride and National Conference/Summit on Women in Transport.

Another activity taking place in October, from a statistical point of view, is the data collection of sampled households throughout the country for the Living Conditions Survey (LCS) 2014/2015. The survey is conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The data collection started on 13 October 2014 and will end in October 2015. The survey aims to identify and profile poverty in South Africa, and gives policy-makers information on who is poor, where the poor are located and what it is that drives poverty in the country. In this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief, we start with a new theme for our educational articles, as we no longer report on the Census 2011 results for metropolitan municipalities. From now on, the educational articles will be based on different statistical reports produced by Stats SA and this month’s article is based on the Youth employment, unemployment, skills, and economic growth, 1994–2014 report.

Included in this issue are our monthly articles such as the Consumer price index (CPI), Selected building statistics of the private sector, Retail trade sales and Tourist accommodation. We have also included a crossword puzzle and solutions for the September 2014 puzzle.

Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from July to August 2014 which were released in September and October 2014. For more details on any of the surveys, visit our website at www.statssa.gov.za

Download Mbalo – Brief October 2014