Fin24 reports that according to the SA Reserve Bank’s quarterly bulletin released on Wednesday, SA workers are seeing meagre pay increases that do not keep up with inflation.
Private sector workers saw their pay grow by only 1.0% - an all-time low - in the first quarter of 2019, compared to the year before. This was far below inflation, which measured 4.3% in August. This means wages are not keeping pace with inflation and living costs are rising faster than salaries. The first quarter of 2019 was also the third successive quarter of shrinking nominal remuneration growth. After reaching 5.1% in the second quarter of 2018 it has all been downhill. Wage hikes for those who are part of collective bargaining agreements decreased to their lowest levels since the second quarter of 2007. The average wage hike as a result of collective bargaining was recorded at 6.9% in the first half of 2019 - the lowest level in 12 years. The average wage hike last year, by contrast, was 7.2%. Nominal remuneration in the public sector, meanwhile, grew by 10% in the first quarter of 2019, up from 7.0% in the fourth quarter. The Reserve Bank noted that the number of working days lost due to strikes doubled to 1.1 million in the first half of 2019, from 550,000 in the first half of 2018. In total, 1.95 million working days were lost to strikes in 2018.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24
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