Work & Labour Force
There are different forms of work, these include work as employment (work to generate income), unpaid work which includes volunteer work and domestic work for own final household consumption. Statistics South Africa measures all forms of work including work which should be abolished like child labour.
Work as employment is measured from two sources, establishment surveys and household based surveys. The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) is establishment based while The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) is a household based survey. The two sources differ in coverage, scope, unit of measurement and method of collection. Because of these differences, the two sources yield different figures. However, the two sources should be regarded as complementary rather than competitive.
Each source has advantages and limitations in terms of statistics yielded. The QES covers non-agricultural formal sector employment while the QLFS covers total employment in all industries and sectors. The QLFS can also provide information on demographic characteristics of the labour force (employment and unemployment) which the QES cannot provide.
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Unemployment
Employment is a key economic indicator and it is sensitive to the business cycle. For example employment peaked in 2008 to approximately 13,8 million when the economy was better. However, during the recession of 2009 and 2010 approximately 806 000 persons lost their jobs. After these two successive years of decline, employment grew by 204 000 and 258 000 persons in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Community & social services industry contributed the most to the growth in employment observed in the past two years. This was followed by Finance and other business services.read more »
Economic Growth
The diverse structure of the South African economy is a critical aspect of its historical and current growth performance. The manufacturing sector continues to occupy a significant share of the South Africa economy, despite its relative importance declining from 19 percent in 1993 to about 17 percent in 2012 in real terms.
In line with structural changes in many economies, it not surprising to observe that the finance, real estate and business services sector has increase its relative importance of 17 per cent in 1993 to approximately 24 per cent in 2012. These two sectors and a few more are an important part of the South African growth story since the dawn of democracy.
Despite that, less than a decade into the 21st century, many countries, including South Africa, experienced the global economic crisis.This has affected economic growth in South Africa over the last four years, prompting a deceleration in rate of economic growth.
South Africa experienced an average growth rate of approximately 5 per cent in real terms between 2004 and 2007. However, the period 2008 to 2012 only recorded average growth just above 2 per cent; largely a result of the global economic recession.
Of the nine provinces in South Africa, three power houses stand out. Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape collectively contribute a significant portion to the countrys value added, reported at over 60 percent.
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Inflation
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) are the two primary measures of inflation for South Africa. Both indicators are published on a monthly basis.The Consumer Price Index tracks the rate of change in the prices of goods and services purchased by consumers. The headline CPI is used as the inflation target measure which guides the South African Reserve Bank on the setting of interest rates.
The Producer Price Index tracks the rate of change in the prices charged by producers of goods. Stats SA publishes PPIs for different industries with the PPI for final manufactured goods being the headline PPI. Additional PPIs are compiled for Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Mining and quarrying; Electricity and water; Intermediate manufactured goods; Imports and Exports; and Construction.
The PPI is widely used by businesses as a contract escalator and as a general indicator of inflationary pressures in the economy.
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Agricultural Statistics
The history of agricultural statistics in South Africa goes back as far back as the beginning of the 20th century. With the exception of the World Wars and great depression years, an agricultural census was conducted on annual basis in the first half of the 20th century. As agricultures contribution to the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) decreased over the years, so did the frequency of conducting agricultural censuses. Post 1994, agricultural censuses have been conducted on a five yearly basis, with annual surveys being conducted in between the census years. Until now, agricultural censuses and surveys have largely concentrated on commercial agriculture leaving out small-scale and subsistence agriculture.
In 2009, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) conducted an audit of agricultural statistics in the country. One of the findings was that the country lacked information on smallholder and subsistence agriculture. The current list of farmers being used to conduct surveys was mainly confined to commercial agriculture.
A decision was taken that three questions related to agriculture would be included in the Population Census 2011 (Census 2011) questionnaire. The main objective was to identify all households involved in agriculture in the country, so that a complete frame of all individuals and entities involved in agriculture (both subsistence and commercial) could be generated. This will allow for a comprehensive agricultural census to be conducted.read more »