Right present, the average take-home salary in South Africa is…

According to the latest monthly BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index, take-home pay in South Africa climbed for the third consecutive month in October (BTPI).

However, as economic troubles linger, the amount of wages paid has taken another hit, according to the organisation.

“The average nominal salary for October recovered to R15,489, the highest level since the R15,670 high reached in February 2022.

“The October figure is also the first time in five months that the BTPI has moved into positive territory showing a 2% year-on-year improvement,” said Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica’s Head of Stakeholder Engagements.

The new statistic comes at a time when the economy has been hit by ongoing load shedding, increased living costs, and a lengthy strike by Transnet workers in October. However, wages continue to lag behind headline inflation.

“This is reflected in a 5.1% y/y decline in the real average salary recorded in October, though somewhat of a moderation compared to the decline of 8.3% in September,” said independent economist Elize Kruger.

While consumer inflation has declined from its peak of 7.8% in July, the 7.6% CPI recorded in October implies that inflation remains sticky at high levels.

Higher food costs and broad-based increasing trend in several consumer basket categories contributed to the higher-than-expected number.

The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to raise benchmark interest rates by a total of 350 basis points (bps) since November 2021 in response to the acceleration and stickiness of inflation – with additional hikes potentially on the way for 2023 – indicates that the average salaried person’s finances are likely to remain strained in the foreseeable future.

BankservAfrica’s data, when adjusted for weekly payments, indicates that employment losses occurred in October as the economy collapsed under pressure in a generally pressured business climate and a less favourable global economic background. This was the second month in a row that less wages were paid via BankservAfrica.

In October, the BankservAfrica Private Pensions Index (BPPI) recovered somewhat.

“After a month of dipping below the R10,000-level, the BPPI showed the nominal average private pension reached R10,102, up by 1.7% compared to the R9,938 recorded in September,” said Naidoo.

Year on year, the nominal pension was 8.7% higher in October than in September, compared to 5.5%.

In real terms, the average real private pension grew to R9,589 in October, up 1.0% from the previous year. According to Kruger, despite growing inflation, the average real private pension has held up pretty well in 2022, safeguarding the spending power of retirees.

When compared to a year ago, the value of total take-home pay and private pension payments (less than R100,000 per month) processed in October grew by 5.2% in real terms and 13.2% in nominal ones.