Falling prices: the good, the better, and the best

It’s hard to believe. It goes against what we often hear. Whether chatting with friends around the braai or debating with family at the dinner table, almost everyone has a story to tell about their own experiences with rising prices. Surprisingly, data show that there are in fact items that are cheaper now than they were at the beginning of the year.

Public healthcare: How much per person?

You can consider yourself one of the lucky few if you have medical aid. According to the latest General Household Survey, only 17 in 100 South Africans have medical insurance, the essential key that opens the door to private healthcare. As many as 45 million, or 82 out of every 100 South Africans, fall outside the medical aid net, and as a result are largely dependent on public healthcare.¹

Crime is going down, but we are not feeling any safer

The recently released Victims of Crime Survey results found that crime levels have been gradually declining. With South Africans experiencing lower levels of crime, it is expected that communities would feel safer. Instead, the survey reveals that declining crime trends were accompanied by deteriorating feelings of safety among households. According to the survey, the percentage of households who experienced at least one incident of crime decreas...

More bad news for job-seekers

More bad news looms for job-seekers as the formal non-agricultural sector of the economy reported a decline of 34 000 jobs for the quarter ended June 2017. This is according to the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) report released by Statistics South Africa. The QES data tracks changes in employment at the establishment level, and thus provide a picture of aggregate employment growth statistics.