New employment figures released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) showed that South Africa’s formal non-agricultural sector added 16 000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector to 10,2 million. The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) reported that formal sector jobs rose by 18 000 in   read more »

South Africa’s 257 municipalities spent a total of R95,2 billion in the quarter ended December 2019 (October to December). This is how much it costs municipalities to provide services – such as water, electricity and sanitation – to millions of households across the country. The R95,2 billion was higher than the R84,4 billion that was   read more »

Right now, if a natural disaster happened in Gauteng’s West Rand district, 31% of the nation’s carrot crop would be at risk. Stats SA’s latest set of reports on commercial agriculture show how certain agricultural activities are concentrated in a few, often relatively small, geographical areas. If we take a national view, the production of   read more »

South Africa’s annual inflation rate nudged up to 4,6% in February from January’s 4,5%, inching past the 4,5% midpoint of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range. The last time the inflation rate was above the midpoint was in November 2018 when the rate was 5,2%. The monthly shift in consumer prices –   read more »

Human Rights Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated on 21 March each year. On this day in 1960, the community of Sharpevilletownship embarked on a protest march against pass laws. The pass laws were designed to segregate the population, manage urbanisation, and allocate migrant labour. Black South Africans over the age of 16   read more »

During the 7-year period before the South Africa Demographic Health Survey (SADHS) 2016, the pregnancy related mortality ratio was 536 pregnancy-related deaths per 100 000 live births. For every 1 000 live births, about five women died during pregnancy or within 2 months after childbirth (SADHS, 2016). While South Africa has made significant progress with regard to   read more »

The South African economy slipped into recession in the fourth quarter of 2019, contracting by 1,4%. This followed a contraction of 0,8% (revised) in the third quarter. Transport and trade were the main drags on overall activity. Finance, mining and personal services managed to keep their heads above water. Explore the latest gross domestic product   read more »

The South African economy contracted by 1,4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, following a contraction of 0,8% (revised) in the third quarter.1 Transport and trade were the main drags on overall activity, according to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures. Seven of the ten industries contracted in the fourth quarter. Finance, mining and   read more »

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                     02 March 2020 Unwanted Fertility in South Africa 2016 Report According to the 2016 Unwanted fertility report released by Statistics South Africa, amongst women born in 1965-1969, about 54% of them experienced fertility when they did not plan to have any more births, and this was an increase from 13,2% in the 1998   read more »

It is often said that each generation should be better off than their parents. In South Africa, generational changes have largely been impacted by important political changes that affected the choices available to Generation X’ers and Millennials in terms of their educational and labour market participations. According to a recent report, Education and Labour Market   read more »