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Blog: 9 March 2018 (The relative contribution of various industries to South Africa's economy over various time periods)
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So with the publication of the latest economic growth numbers, for Q4:2017, which came in at 3.1% of South Africa, we have decided to dedicate a few days blog posts to create a deeper understanding of South Africa's economic structure, not only in terms of which provinces contributes the most to South Africa's economy over time but also to show which industries contributes to South Africa's economy and how that has changed over time.
In our 7 March 2018 blog we covered the contribution of the various provinces to South Africa's economic growth over various time periods. Today we are covering the contribution of the various sectors/industries to South Africa's economic growth over time. |
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So which industries contributes the most to South Africa's economic growth?
The interactive graphic shows the average contribution of the various industries to South Africa's economy for the time periods (1997, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2016). As soon as a user clicks on a specific year in the pie chart, the bar chart changes colour and shows the relative contribution of the various industries to South Africa's economy for that specific year. Click on that year again and the graph resets to the average for all the years mentioned earlier.
As readers can see from the graphic above, a lot of the higher bars are clustered towards the right (which are tertiary industries), while a lot of the smaller bars are clustered to the left (which shows primary industries). And this is one of South Africa's biggest economic problems, as a lot of the primary industries do not contribute significantly to South Africa's economy yet they are large employers and the fotuntes of such industries tend to be extremely volatile. And as the relative importance of these industries remain low or decline, less investments would flow into these industries and thus less employment opportunities are created in these industries.
Below the main industries as shown in the graphic above, ranked from biggest contributor to smallest contributor to the South African economy based on the 2016 data.
So finance and insurance industry is the biggest contributor to South Africa's economy, with it contributing a massive 9.6% to the total economy of South Africa, while Radio, TV, instruments, watches and clocks being the smallest of the industries in South Africa, with it contributing a mere 0.2%
Sadly for the gold mining industry and the industry that spawned the birth of Johannesburg, it now only contributes 1.3% to South Africa's economy, while Coal and Platinum industries now contribute 1.8% each to South Africa's economy and both being bigger contributors to South Africa's economy than gold, which is a clear sign of dying industry in South Africa. Sadly a lot of people are still employed in the gold mining industry (and the mining industry in general).
The transport industry makes up a fair chunk of South Africa's economy too. This includes airports and shipping ports. And because of this its not surprising that transport is a big industry in South Africa's economy. South Africa imports and exports goods to the value of around 70% of the country's GDP every year. Which means ports in SA are extremely busy.
In fact the main reason KwaZulu-Natal is the 2nd biggest province in South Africa (in terms of economic contribution) is due to the fact that the Durban harbour is in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Finance and insurance: 9.60%
- Provincial government: 8.40%
- Transport: 8.00%
- Retail trade; repair of household goods: 7.10%
- Central government: 6.90%
- Personal services: 5.80%
- Real estate: 5.60%
- Business services :5.00%
- Wholesale trade: 4.90%
- Construction: 4.00%
- Food, beverages and tobacco: 3.50%
- Electricity and gas: 3.00%
- Petroleum products, chemicals, rubber and plastic: 2.90%
- Metals, metal products, machinery and equipment: 2.40%
- Local government: 2.30%
- Agriculture: 2.10%
- Motor trade; repair of motor vehicles: 2.00%
- Communication: 1.90%
- Coal: 1.80%
- Platinum group metals: 1.80%
- Other metal ores: 1.70%
- Wood and paper; publishing and printing: 1.50%
- Gold:1.30%
- Other mining and quarrying: 1.30%
- Transport equipment: 1.00%
- Furniture; other manufacturing: 1.00%
- Catering and accommodation: 0.90%
- Water: 0.80%
- Textiles, clothing and leather goods: 0.40%
- Other non-metal mineral products: 0.40%
- Forestry: 0.20%
- Fishing: 0.20%
- Electrical machinery and apparatus: 0.20%
- Radio, TV, instruments, watches and clocks: 0.20%
So finance and insurance industry is the biggest contributor to South Africa's economy, with it contributing a massive 9.6% to the total economy of South Africa, while Radio, TV, instruments, watches and clocks being the smallest of the industries in South Africa, with it contributing a mere 0.2%
Sadly for the gold mining industry and the industry that spawned the birth of Johannesburg, it now only contributes 1.3% to South Africa's economy, while Coal and Platinum industries now contribute 1.8% each to South Africa's economy and both being bigger contributors to South Africa's economy than gold, which is a clear sign of dying industry in South Africa. Sadly a lot of people are still employed in the gold mining industry (and the mining industry in general).
The transport industry makes up a fair chunk of South Africa's economy too. This includes airports and shipping ports. And because of this its not surprising that transport is a big industry in South Africa's economy. South Africa imports and exports goods to the value of around 70% of the country's GDP every year. Which means ports in SA are extremely busy.
In fact the main reason KwaZulu-Natal is the 2nd biggest province in South Africa (in terms of economic contribution) is due to the fact that the Durban harbour is in KwaZulu-Natal.
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