Subdued monthly Producer price index (PPI) in September led the annual PPI for final manufactured goods (headline PPI) to drop to 6,9% from 7,2% in August. Food products, beverages and tobacco products remain the main contributors to the annual PPI. Monthly PPI for agriculture increased with 3,2% in September due to higher prices of live   read more »

Press Statement, 30 October 2014 Table A: Key labour market indicators   Jul-Sep 2013 Apr-Jun 2014 Jul-Sep 2014 Q/Q Change Y/Y Change Q/Q Change Y/Y Change Thousand Per cent  Population aged 15–64 yrs 34 868 35 332 35 489 157 620 0,4 1,8  Labour force 19 916 20 248 20 268 19 351 0,1 1,8   read more »

Patrick Kelly – Executive manager for Price statistics, Statistics South Africa, explores the true cost of ‘Braai Day’. South Africans love meat. This is obvious from our cultural affinity for a braai or ShisaNyama. Many celebrated ‘Braai Day’ on this week’s Heritage Day holiday. This importance is also evident from the prominence of meat products   read more »

29 July 2014 Employment increased by 39 000 between Q1: 2014 and Q2: 2014, while unemployment increased by 87 000 resulting in an increase of 126 000 persons in the labour force. Consequently, the unemployment rate increased by 0,3 of a percentage point to 25,5% in Q2: 2014. The expanded unemployment rate reached 35,6% in   read more »

Between December 2013 and March 2014, the non-agriculture formal sector of the South African economy experienced a net increase of 9 000 employees (+0,1%), from 8 498 000 to 8 507 000 individuals. This increase was mainly due to increases in the community, social and personal services industry which gained 50 000 employees (+2,1%); the finance industry (+7 000 or +0,4%); and   read more »

6 June 2014 General Household Survey (GHS) 2013 Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) will release the results of the General Household Survey (GHS) 2013, which will outline findings on multiple facets of the living conditions of South African households, as well as the quality of service delivery in a number of key service sectors. The   read more »

The seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices for the first quarter of 2014 decreased by an annualised rate of 0,6 percent. The main contributors to this decrease in economic activity were the mining and quarrying industry (-1,3 percentage points) and the manufacturing industry (-0,7 of a percentage point). The mining and   read more »

Stats SA today released the Q1:2014 results which show a quarterly decline in employment by 122 000 due to a loss of 110 000 jobs in the informal sector. Formal sector employment was virtually unchanged at 10,8 million compared with the previous quarter, while both Private households and Agriculture shed jobs (14 000 and 5 000 respectively). The   read more »

The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) results show that number of employees working in businesses increased by 38 thousand – from 8 457 000 in the third quarter of 2013 to 8 495 000 in the fourth quarter. This was driven by an increase of 35 000 in the Trade industry and increases in the Community and social services   read more »

The January 2014 statistical release of the Producer Price Index (to be released on 27 February) will show changes to the weights and basket of the indices.  The methodology of the new PPI series that was introduced last year is to update the weights on an annual basis. The PPI has weights at two levels.    read more »