“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of”. These are the words of South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Rolihlahla ‘Madiba’ Mandela during an address delivered at Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto 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 »

The South African national government expenditure surpassed R1 trillion in the 2012/13 fiscal year, almost double the R567 billion spent in 2007/08. This was a finding from Stats SA’s Financial Statistics of National Government report, an annual release containing details of national government spending. Exploring expenditure trends over the last six years, the report shows   read more »

Key findings on employment and earnings for the quarter ended March 2014 The number of employees in the formal non-agricultural sector of the South African economy increased from an estimated 8 498 000 employees in December 2013 to an estimated 8 507 000 employees in March 2014. Statistics South Africa released the results of the   read more »

More people rely on state coffers as the percentage of individuals that benefited from social grants has increased from 12,7% in 2003 to 30,2% in 2013, and the percentage of households that received at least one grant increased from 29,9% to 45,5%. This is according to the latest results of the General Household Survey (GHS)   read more »

Although the number and percentage of households in South Africa with access to piped water has increased steadily over the last decade, household satisfaction with the quality of water services has decreased. This is one of the findings from the latest release of Stats SA’s General Household Survey (GHS). Conducted on an annual basis since   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 unemployment rate among youth increased from 32,7% to 36,1% between 2008 and 2014; in the post recessionary period, the unemployment rate has been consistently higher among youth than among adults by more than 20 percentage points.  The report released by Statistics South Africa examines in detail various aspects of the situation faced by youth   read more »

It has only been five months into 2014, yet a lot has already happened. Just recently, on 7 May 2014, many South Africans went out in their numbers to vote in the fifth general election since the dawn of democracy. The African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer missions congratulated South Africa   read more »

Hitting the ceiling of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) inflation target range, the CPI comes in at 6% this month, with a 1,3% monthly increase. The monthly increase is the largest since June 2008 (1,4%). The monthly increase has been steadily increasing since a low of 0,1% in November 2013. Food and non-alcoholic beverages   read more »