IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

Employment levels at 14 million in Q3: 2013 are now back to the Q4: 2008 peak. The working age population however, has increased by 2,3 million over the period Q4: 2008 to Q3: 2013 such that the percentage of South Africans aged 15-64 years with jobs (the absorption rate) has declined from 45,0% in Q4:   read more »

The annual inflation rate dipped to 6% in September, from the 6,4% registered in August. Much of the monthly increase of 0,5% came from strong increases in basic necessities such as maize meal, rice, bread and meat. Food prices increased by 0,8% from August to September – the highest monthly increase since January this year.   read more »

Municipalities in Gauteng province are better off in terms of generating their own revenue in the form of services provided to households, while at the same time they are also getting a bigger share of the grants and subsidies received from both national and provincial governments in proportion to the increase in total population.  The   read more »

Over the past 12 months, the petrol price has increased by R2,49. This translates to an extra R124,50 to fill a 50 litre tank. The annual inflation rate for petrol is 23%, the highest since December 2011, when it was 26,3%. This is just one of the factors which led to the annual CPI inflation   read more »

The provision of basic services such as water went up by 6,4% between 2011 and 2012 nationally. The highest provincial increases were recorded in Western Cape (19,6%) and Gauteng (7,2%). The extent of service delivery at local government level is normally obtained from households through population censuses and general household surveys. However, the suppliers (the   read more »

The annual inflation rate jumped to 6,3% in July from the 5,5% recorded in June. This is the first time since April 2012 that the CPI has strayed outside of the inflation target band. The increase in the annual rate was almost totally due to the 84c/l increase in the petrol price which resulted in   read more »

Employment increased by 100 000 between the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2013. Despite this, the increase in unemployment by 122 000 resulted in an increase of 0,4 of a percentage point in the unemployment rate – from 25,2% to 25,6% between the two quarters. Year-on-year, employment rose by 274 000 while unemployment rose by 254 000. Education plays   read more »

Food inflation recorded its fourth successive year on year increase and is now at its highest point for the year.  The inflationary pressures are distributed across a range of food groups, with processed food reflecting a higher rate of inflation at 7,6% compared to processed food at 6,3%.   Prices of alcoholic beverages dropped on average by 0,3%   read more »

Government and all businesses, from small to multinational, need the facts on the economy that this release provides. Aneen Jordaan reports The gross domestic product (GDP) of a country is one of the main indicators used to measure the performance of a country’s economy. The Macmillan dictionary defines economy as the system by which a   read more »

Silvertown is a township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape named after all the silver zinc shacks used as housing in the area. After the Census 2011 place name data was released in the township in April 2013, the media reported Silvertown to be the worst place to live in South Africa. The census data provides   read more »