Abuja Picture on Now.Post Yours.

Originally posted by kenndo:
[QB] IN FACT it will take time for the average black family to make as much as white but on thing is overlooked,the growth of the wealth has to get larger an the need for more ownership,but even if this gap closes there will still be those who were damage from the past and will never trust any system.whites are the small group and are highly educated so of course they would have %wise higher incomes than most in the country.even if most of the wealth was under control of blacks.it is not necessary for blacks has awhole to out do whites in the income department, or at least anytime soon.asians in the u.s. have higher incomes than whites in america on average but that does not mean they control the country or most of the land or businesess.

just because you control the land or most of it or most of the resources does not mean you can't have much or most of the pie.it is other factors that come in to play.

blacks in england to better than whites and are called the asians of britian,whatever that mean.so it is not as simlple as certain folks try to make it


anyway-


Key findings: P0302 - Mid-year population estimates, 2007
The mid-2007 population is estimated at approximately 47,9 million. (The census figure for October 2001 was 44,8 million.) Africans are in
the majority (nearly 38,1 million) and constitute 80 percent of the total South African population.

Fifty-one per cent (approximately 24, 3 million) of the population is female.
The provincial estimates show that KwaZulu-Natal has the largest share of the population (approximately 21%), followed by Gauteng (20%).


Black S. Africans Benefit From Economy

Thursday September 27, 6:15 am ET

By Celean Jacobson, Associated Press Writer
Business in Soweto Booms As Black South Africans Reap the Benefits of Growing Economy /


"The Black Middle Class is a mirage,” a caller emphatically announced as I tuned into a radio talk show recently.
What was being discussed was BusinessMap’s recent research report BEE 2007 - Empowerment and its
Critics. The report analyses the number of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) equity deals that have taken

 
 
The Black Middle Class: fact or fiction?   
Friday, 11 May 2007

"The Black Middle Class is a mirage,” a caller emphatically announced as I tuned into a radio talk show recently. What was being discussed was BusinessMap’s recent research report BEE 2007 - Empowerment and its Critics. The report analyses the number of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) equity deals that have taken place over the past year. However the interview didn't really focus on this aspect, but rather around whether a significant Black Middle Class was emerging in South Africa.

As many callers phoned in to say it was a mirage, as phoned in to say it was a reality.

Clearly it would be inappropriate to use as the measure the number of BEE deals brokered, but are there other measures that give real evidence of this emerging group of people?

Let's begin by agreeing that the middle-class is generally accepted as Living Standards Measures (LSM’s) 7, 8 & 9, families that earn between R6,880 and R12,647 per month. LSM’s are researched annually by the South African Advertising Research Foundation and range from Level 1 to Level 10 with Level 1 and 2 being extreme poverty, Level 3 being poor, Level 4,5 & 6 being lower income, Level 7, 8 & 9 being middle income and Level 10 being upper income.

The chart below was produced by the South African Advertising Research Foundation and illustrates how the demographics of families residing at each level have changed between 1994 and 2006.

SA Good News"The rich have become richer and the poor, poorer,” another caller announced as I listened further on the radio talk show. But the table above tells a different story. Yes, the richer have become richer, but the poor have not become poorer. On the contrary, it is estimated that some 500,000 families have moved out of LSM’s 1, 2 & 3 in to LSM’s 4, 5 & 6 and that some 400,000 families have moved out of LSM’s 4, 5 & 6 into LSM’s 7, 8 & 9. What has happened though is that the rich have become richer faster than the poor have become less poor. This was covered recently in the Sunday Times in a report which stated that South Africa is one of the most upwardly mobile societies in the world!

Is there evidence of this? Absolutely. Car sales in South Africa have gone from 365,000 new units in 2003 to 730,000 new units sold last year (2,000 new cars on our roads each day!). What’s more, eighty percent of the buyers were black. The sale of home appliances is also exploding and our property price improvement tops the global rankings. While there is a reasonable supply of houses in the R2m plus bracket at the top end, and in the R50 000 to R400 000 bracket at the bottom end, there is a chronic shortage of mid-priced houses - further evidence of a growing middle class. Once again, most of these aspirant owners are black. There are an estimated 23 million cell phone users in the country. The tax net has grown from 2.3 million taxpayers in 1994 to nearly 7 million today, and this is expected to grow to 10,5 million by 2010. Do the maths - the numbers indicate a growing middle class!

Need further evidence? Read the article in the FM entitled Soweto rising which tells us that there has been a huge economic turnaround in Soweto, most evident in the dramatic growth in retail space. Shopping malls are popping up everywhere, with more planned. Until about five years ago, infrastructural development and private investment was considered too risky. This perception changed when studies showed that the living standards of many blacks were moving up to the “middle class level”. Various malls around Soweto are now providing shopping and entertainment previously only available in the leafy suburbs.

Our economy is now growing at around 5%, whereas our population is predicted to stabilise at between 45m and 48m people over the next 20 years. (Our population is growing at less than 1% per annum, not because of HIV/Aids - although that has an influence - but mostly because of rapid urbanisation and improved education opportunities). Our economy is growing five times faster than our population and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what the implications are. Most economists feel that our economic prospects will remain good for the next 20 years!

Clearly we still have a massive problem in respect of poverty in South Africa with at least 20% of our population languishing in LSM levels 1,2 & 3, but 10 years ago that number was approximately 40%. I have written much about poverty previously and I certainly do not underestimate the challenge that this presents. Having said that, the fact that the government spends R80bn a year on social grants, benefiting approximately 11 million adults and children “at the bottom of the pile” (surprisingly this is not taking into account when poverty levels are measured) must be factored into the "poverty debate", and “measure” for that matter.

Is a middle-class important in our fledgling democracy? Well, what is happening in South Africa, unlike many other African countries is that economic opportunity, as opposed to political connectedness, is increasingly being realised as an opportunity for prosperity. It is often said that in developing countries, politics drives economics, whereas in developed countries, the opposite holds true. Obviously, the greater the size of the middle-class, the more this pendulum will shift in favour of the latter.

It goes without saying that middle-class people have a lifestyle they wish to protect against the uncertainties of boom/ bust economic practice, rampant inflation and deteriorating currency valuation. Hopefully they will use their vote to ensure this.

The middle-class has a vested interest in the future, the future of their children, of schooling, of health institutions, of infrastructure, of political stability and of economic well-being. This creates upward pressure on delivery; better shops, higher quality entertainment, working infrastructure, good schools, safe amenities, and professional healthcare.

THIS IS WHERE JOBS FOR THE “LOST GENERATION” ARE CREATED.

The South African economy is increasingly becoming service oriented, only 12% of GDP is contributed to by the mining sector, and 20% of GDP by manufacturing. A substantial 68% of GDP is therefore contributed to by the services sector.

What kind of people are employed there? Skilled professionals.

What group of people is unemployed in South Africa? Largely unskilled people with a poor education, the "lost generation" as they are often referred to. How will they be employed? By middle-class people who have a requirement for the services they can offer as waiters, shop assistants, domestic helpers, gardeners, cleaners, security guards etc. (These may be considered to be ordinary jobs, but they do represent the first rung on the ladder out of the poverty trap and they do give the incumbents a real chance to give their children a chance. For more on this, read Jeffrey Sachs’ book The End of Poverty.)

It is often said that for every skilled person entering the economy between four and six unskilled jobs are created. That is why the growth of a middle-class is so important.

Various estimates indicate that our economy currently has a million jobs unfilled. (Wake up Home Affairs, go away those naysayers who argue that whites can't get jobs!). Imagine if these jobs could be filled in the next five years. Imagine how that would dent unemployment!

Is there a growing middle-class? Absolutely.

Is it the solution to poverty and unemployment? Only partially.

Is it good for our country? Fundamentally.

Will it continue to grow? Sure, provided we can produce the skills and maintain economic growth levels and between

between 4% and 6%.
 

 
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SA's big spenders drive economic growth

Wednesday, 07 November 2007
Over the past seven years South Africa’s black population has steadily risen in high income earning brackets
and has also become South Africa’s biggest spenders, aMarket Research (BMR).according to the University of South Africa’s Bureau of
The BMR’s integrated model of the South African population, labour market and income and expenditure
revealed that the white population still remains the wealthiest in the country. But the survey also shows some
parity between black and white income earners particularly in the R100K - R300K bracket. Blacks account for
1.4 million of this group and whites, 1.3 million. Project Leader Professor Carl van Aardt highlights this as an
indication of dramatic economic growth in the black population.
The report also shows that the black population leads the pack in household expenditure, spending R550

billion this year, followed by whites whose expenditure amounted to R506 billion
Van Aardt believes that the BMR’s investigation into income and expenditure is a more realistic assessment of
the affluence of South African consumers, the sophistication of the markets and a more comprehensive
estimate of the actual size of the country’s GDP and thus allowing for more accurate future projections.
We can expect South Africa’s current growth rate at 4.5% to sustain itself over the medium term due to the fact
 for more accurate future projections.


“We can expect South Africa’s current growth rate at 4.5% to sustain itself over the medium term due to the fact
South Africa is a consumption driven economy and black consumers will keep growing,” says van Aardt.
Medium to long term growth will be driven by government capital expenditure as we progress towards the 2010
World Cup, explains van Aardt.
Van Aardt confidently states that South Africa is not headed in the direction of Zimbabwe. “The Zimbabwean
economy is dependant on basic commodities, agriculture and mining while the South African economy is very
diversified. Even if one sector took a knock there would be other factors in place to hold our economy together.”
Though we face positive prospects, van Aardt warns that some of South Africa’s biggest problems could
threaten economic growth. Both foreign portfolio and direct investment are vulnerable to crime. A loss in these

foreign investments could see South Africa experience a big “economic hiccup”.
The Human Sciences Research Council’s HIV Prevalence Report (2002 and 2005) showed that infections are
on the rise amongst the affluent and skilled. This is a major threat to the economy.

Though the number of historically disadvantaged South Africans moving into higher earning brackets is on the
increase, “the number of people in poverty has stagnated. We have people trapped in poverty,” says Van Aardt.
He attributes this to the skills shortage in South Africa and the mismatch between skills available and skills
required.

SA among world’s freer economies

Wednesday, 05 March 2008
Economic freedom in South Africa is considered to be higher than that of the world average, according to

Heritage Foundation’s 2008 Index of Economic Freedom.
With a score of 63.2%, South Africa’s levels of economic freedom are above the world average of 60.3%. South
Africa earned a global ranking of 57, making it the fourth freest economy of the 40 African countries that were
surveyed. The Africa rankings were topped by Mauritius (18), Botswana (36) and Uganda (52).
South Africa ranked higher than emerging market competitors Brazil (101), India (115), China (126) and Russia
134).


Blacks flourishing
SOWETO, South Africa - Black South Africans are reaping the benefits of a growing economy,
and at the heart of it is Soweto, where Nelson Mandela presided over the gala opening of a
multimillion-dollar mall yesterday. The sprawling township that was the center of the anti-apartheid
struggle is being transformed, with new houses, new parks and paved roads. [/QB]