This is the average salary in South Africa right now
Stats SA has published its quarterly employment survey (QES) for the second quarter of the year ending May 2023, showing that salaries ticked up slightly.
According to the statistics body, there was a 2.8% increase in quarter-on-quarter average monthly earnings for employees in the formal non-agricultural sector, with earnings growing from R25,274 in February 2023 to R25,994 in May 2023.
On a year-to-year basis, the average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector saw growth of 5.4% – increasing from R23,640.
The changes in average monthly earnings can be found below:
The total amount paid to employees in salaries jumped by 5.4% or R42.9 billion from June 2022 to June 2023.
Stats SA added that the regular salary/wages paid to employees rose by 2.6% from R738,5 billion in March 2023 to R19.3 billion in the quarter ending June 2023.
“This increase was mainly driven by the growth in salary/wages in community services, business services, trade, manufacturing, construction, transport and mining. However, the electricity industry showed a decrease in salary/wages,” it said.
The regular salary and wages of employees in South Africa also increased by 5.4%, or R38.6 billion, when compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Bonus payments paid to employees did, however, fall by 26.4% from R66.9 billion in March 2023 to R49.3 billion in the quarter ending June 2023.
“This decrease was mainly attributed to the decline in bonus payments in business services, manufacturing, community services and electricity. However, the industries that recorded an increase in bonus payments were transport, trade and construction,” Stats SA said.
However, compared to the same quarter last year, bonus payments did increase by 4.4% or R2.1 billion.
Furthermore, overtime payments paid to employees also increased by 8.7% from R23.3 billion in March 2023 to R25.4 billion in the quarter ending June 2023.
“This increase was mainly driven by the growth in overtime payments in manufacturing, business services, transport, trade, construction and electricity. Community services reported a decrease in overtime payments,” Stats SA said.
Overtime payments also jumped by R2.3 billion (or 10.1%) from June 2022 to June 2023
Jobs
Looking at the employment figures from the survey, 39,000 jobs were added to the formal non-agricultural sector, increasing the total to 10.1 million jobs. There has also been a year-on-year increase of 104,000 jobs.
The increase in employment was mainly driven by the following sectors:
- Community services (40,000)
- Business services (12,000)
- Mining (2,000)
- Electricity (1,000)
However, the following sector saw a decline in employment:
- Manufacturing (-10,000)
- Transport (-3,000)
- Trade (-2,000)
- Construction (-1,000)
The number of full-time employees also dropped by 25,000 in the quarter, dropping from 8,816,000 in March 2023 to 8,791,000 in the quarter ending June.
That said, some industries, such as mining (2,000) and trade (1,000), did see an increase in their employment figures.
The number of full-time workers also dropped by 46,000 from June 2022 to June 2023.
Looking more positively, part-time employment did rise by 64,000 jobs from 1,223,000 in March 2023 to 1,287,000 in the quarter ending June 2023.
This was driven by the growth in employment in community services (51,000), business services (12,000), construction (5,000) and electricity (1,000).
On a yearly basis, part-time employment also increased by 150,000 from June 2022 to June 2023.
The total amount of gross earnings paid to employees rose by 0.4% from R828.7 billion in March 2023 to R832,4 billion in the quarter ending June 2023.
Stats SA said that the increase in earnings was primarily driven by the growth in community services, trade, transport, construction, manufacturing, and mining. On the other hand, the business services and electricity industries saw a decline.
Read: Trouble for South Africans earning less than R10,000 a month
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