The second wave of Stats SA’s COVID-19 business impact survey provides an update on how South African businesses are currently faring under lockdown. The first impact survey covered the period 30 March to 13 April 2020, and the results were published on 21 April.1 The survey asked firms in the formal sector how the COVID-19   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 »

Stats SA provides a snapshot of working capital across the formal business sector in the latest release of the Annual Financial Statistics (AFS) report. Working capital is a measure of a company’s liquidity and is one of a number of measures that provide insight into a company’s ability to pay off debt. To calculate working   read more »

Some good news in trying times. After two consecutive years of decline, South African businesses recorded a 49% increase in net profit before tax in financial 2017, according to Stats SA’s latest Annual financial statistics (AFS) survey. The mining industry was the largest contributor to this rise. The success of a business generally depends on   read more »

Recent news reports of sewage spills in the Vaal Dam have again raised concerns over South Africa’s water resources. In order to reduce the costs of maintaining the country’s water network, government has embarked on a programme to train unemployed youth with skills to patch up ageing infrastructure. An important tool to fight joblessness is   read more »

A pull-back in spending on plant, machinery, new construction works and transport equipment saw capital expenditure in the public sector fall by 4,3% in 2017, according to Stats SA’s latest Capital expenditure by the public sector report. Capital expenditure is money that an institution spends to buy, maintain or upgrade fixed assets, such as buildings,   read more »

The South African labour market is more favourable to men than it is to women and men are more likely to be in paid employment than women, regardless of race. According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released by Statistics South Africa, the official unemployment rate has been relatively high since 2008. In the last   read more »

Much excitement surrounds the 10th BRICS Summit currently taking place in Johannesburg. Heads of State and representatives from the club’s five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are gearing up for a week of deliberation over common issues and shared interests. As the host, how does South Africa rank in terms   read more »

Where does your tax money go after it has entered the state coffers? Recent data provide an overview of how national government distributes money to other levels of government. Stats SA publishes financial data for the different levels of government (i.e. national, provincial, local, extra-budgetary accounts) and higher education institutions in separate reports throughout the   read more »

  Media Release                                                                                         28 September 2017   The results of the Quarterly Employment Survey for the second quarter of 2017 released by Statistics South Africa today, show a decline of 34 000 jobs (or -0.4%) to 9 617 000  in the formal non-agricultural sector in the quarter ended in June 2017.  This is a gain   read more »