Fin24 reports that the latest BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) suggests that salaries in SA have not recovered to levels seen three or four years ago.
The index, which indicates trends in SA salaries, is derived from salary payments made to approximately three million people, or about 36% of the country's workforce. The real salary for June 2021 was R12,496, or R14,883 in nominal terms, BankservAfrica's Shergeran Naidoo reported. There was a sharp rise in total salaries paid into bank accounts in June 2021 in real annual terms, as June 2020 had seen a very weak number. Despite that increase, the June 2021 wage was still slightly lower than the June 2018 average. "Total salary payments are not yet back at the levels seen two, three or even four years ago. The decline in total take-home pay paid to all the employees shows the Covid-19 pandemic still influences the number of people employed in the formal sector and the total real amount paid," said economist Mike Schüssler. "When we look at salaries in a 'normal year' by comparing it to figures two years ago and before the pandemic hit, the total money paid to all the employees into the National Payment System for 2021 was still about 3% lower than in 2019," Naidoo noted. However, she pointed out that the actual decline was likely to be smaller than reflected by the index, as the monthly data reflected the returns of daily and weekly paid workers on the payments system - and their earnings, on average, were less.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Anathi Madubela at Fin24
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