IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

Stats SA published changes to the consumer inflation basket, providing insight into how household spending habits have shifted since 2016. It is best practice for national statistical offices to update the basket at least every five years to ensure that it adequately reflects trends in household spending, technology and consumer tastes. The process involves removing   read more »

Headline consumer inflation ended 2021 at 5,9% in December, up from 5,5% in November. The monthly increase was 0,6%, slightly higher than the 0,5% rise recorded between October and November. Average consumer inflation for 2021 was 4,5%, higher than the averages recorded for 2020 (3,3%) and 2019 (4,1%). The factors driving the rise in the   read more »

Would it surprise you to know that women in South Africa are far less likely to have a driver’s license than men? According to a new gender report, Gender Series Volume VIII: Gender patterns in Transport, 2013–2020, released by Statistics South Africa, only 21,8% of females possessed a driver’s license in 2020 compared to 40,1%   read more »

Jobs in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 52 000 in the third quarter of 2021, bringing the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector in South Africa to approximately 9,62 million. According to the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES, Q3:2021) survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), year-on-year, formal sector jobs increased   read more »

Annual consumer inflation accelerated to its highest reading in more than four-and-a-half years in November, driven mostly by rising transport costs. The annual change in the consumer price index (CPI) was 5,5%, up from 5,0% in October and September. This is the biggest annual increase since March 2017 when the rate was 6,1%. The monthly   read more »

Net profit before tax in the formal business sector tumbled by 33,4% in the financial year 2020 compared with 2019, with business services and manufacturing the hardest hit. The data, from Stats SA’s latest Annual financial statistics (AFS) survey1 , which mostly covers the period before the lockdown, show that total net profit before tax   read more »

Under the twin pressures of tighter COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and a spate of civil disorder in July, as well as several other headwinds, the South African economy contracted in the third quarter of 2021 (July–September). After recording four consecutive quarters of positive growth, real gross domestic product (GDP) slumped by 1,5%1, eroding some of the   read more »

The tourism sector: economic importance, employment and expenditure. These are the three themes covered by a recent report examining the pre-pandemic (2019) status of the South African tourism sector. These data will provide an important benchmark for when comparable COVID-19-era data (2020) become available. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for South Africa report, released annually,   read more »

For children, the ongoing COVID‑19 pandemic has significantly impacted the life they once knew. According to a recent report, the General Household Survey, 2020 which was released by Statistics South Africa, COVID-19 has had a distinct impact on the nature of child care arrangements for children aged 0–4 years in 2020. The percentage of children   read more »

Total South African government spending flirted with the R2 trillion mark in the 2019/20 financial year, according to data published by Stats SA. The data, recently published in the Financial statistics of consolidated general government statistical release, covers the period before the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a benchmark for when comparable pandemic-era data become available. The South   read more »