Jobs in the formal non-agricultural sector decreased by 9 000 in the first quarter of 2021, bringing the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector in South Africa to approximately 9,64 million. Year-on-year figures from the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES, Q1:2021) survey, released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), show that formal   read more »

In an interview with Yahoo! News, Spanish-American chef and activist José Andrés said it best: “Food is health. Food is national security. Food is job creation. Food is economic growth.” 1 Agriculture plays a crucial role in food security, supplying the basic products that keep millions of people fed every day. In South Africa, the industry   read more »

Just over a year after Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) suspended face-toface data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation issued a note on 26 April 2021 that the surveys are due to be undertaken. The Survey Officers (SOs) have returned to the field to collect data from households that have been selected to   read more »

According to the Tourism, 2020 report released by Statistics South Africa, foreign arrivals dropped by 71% from just over 15, 8million in 2019 to less than 5 million in 2020. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the tourism industry quite hard around the world and in South Africa, mainly due to the lockdown   read more »

Education inflation recorded its lowest annual rate in three decades, according to data from Stats SA’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) release. Stats SA surveys educational institutions and crèches once a year in March. Education fees increased by 4,1% in 2021. Last year’s rise was 6,4%. Historical data shows that this is the lowest increase   read more »

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic has posed some challenges on the education in South Africa and across the globe. Many learners, students, lecturers, teachers and even parents and guardians were forced to transition from the contact (physical classroom) learning environment to virtual learning. Parents and guardians instantly became teachers overnight as they had to assist   read more »

Local government has made strides in providing services, but they are providing less for free. For example, municipalities supplied water to just over 9 million consumer units in 2006, expanding to 13,8 million in 2019. However, the number of consumer units benefiting from free water declined markedly over the same period. Explore service delivery, as   read more »

More than a year after Stats SA suspended face-to-face data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stats SA Survey Officers (SOs) will return to the field to collect contact details from households that have been selected to participate in one of our household surveys. “We have updated our sample, and need to collect contact details   read more »

There are two sides to every coin. Service delivery in South Africa is often measured from the demand side, via household surveys and the Population Census. What you might not know about is that data also exist for the supply side, collected from those who provide services. Every year Stats SA asks municipalities to provide   read more »

On 21 January 2021, the country received the sad news of the passing of Minister in the Presidency, Mr Jackson Mthembu due to COVID-19 complications. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) was one of the government departments that the Minister was responsible for. According to the Statistician-General (Head of Statistics South Africa) Mr Risenga Maluleke, the   read more »