Take-home pay increased most in 7 years – but the typical employee didn’t feel it

The average real monthly take-home pay was R14 500 in March, which is the highest inflation adjusted average take-home pay in the near seven-year history of the latest BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index.

However, the report also notes that in March 2019 the median (or typical) employee did not actually feel this increase.

The median employee refers to the person that is earning take-home pay where 50% earns less than them and 50% earns more than them. The typical take-home salary was just over R10 043 in March. This is the lowest number since April 2018.
 
Moreover, the typical employee banked a salary that was 1.3% less than a year ago after adjusting for inflation.

The average take-home pay of employees paid via the National Payments System, as recorded by BankservAfrica, increased in real terms by 4.4% y/y in March.

The average take-home salary before adjusting for inflation also reached a new high of R15 812 for March and recorded a 8.7% year-on-year (y/y) increase. This is the second highest growth since the start of the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index.

The number of people who banked more than R40 000 in March increased by 15% on a y/y basis while the number earning less than R12 000 but more than R6 000 per month declined by about 6%.

The number of take-home pay employees earning between R4 000 to R6 000 increased by 6.5% on a y/y basis.

Pensions

BankservAfrica also measures the private pensions of South Africans. This showed a 2.2% y/y increase in March.
The estimated number of pensioners paid via the payment system was 693 689. BankservAfrica’s Private Pensions Index (BPPI) represents about 70% of all banked private pensions in South Africa.
   
Although slightly down on the February value of R7 020, March’s R6 962 is still the fourth-highest ever recorded real average banked pension in the BPPI.
 
In nominal terms, the average pension was R7 527 for March 2019.

“Pension remains a growing source of consumer income,” states the index report.

The average pension is 48.9% of the average take-home salary.