37 of the most in-demand jobs in South Africa – and how much they pay

Recruitment firm Pnet has revealed the job sectors attracting professionals for the first quarter of 2023.

The firm said the Business & Management, IT, Sales, and Admin Office & Support sectors are seeing the largest portion of professionals getting hired.

The company’s latest Market Trends Report presents information on recruitment and employment patterns in South Africa. It uses Saongroup’s online recruitment platforms, which have a database of more than 8 million registered users.

Pnet’s research showed that the local job market increased by 3.8% ‘quarter-on-quarter’ in the first quarter of 2023.

“Year-on-year, employment offers have increased by 1.5%,” said Pnet. Over the last two years, Pnet has seen a 35% growth in jobs.

Currently, the highest salaries are offered for IT candidates, followed by Business & Management and Finance candidates, according to Pnet. On the other side of the scale, Admin, Office & Support professionals are on the lower end in terms of salary offers.

According to Pnet’s recent data, some of the highest salaries across the various sectors are reserved for executive managers/ directors as well as specialists in business architecture and financial analysts.

Pnet looked into what salaries are currently being offered across all the listed in-demand sectors:

Admin, Office and Support

Pnet reported that salary offers for this sector have increased by up to 38% over the last five years:

• Call Centre Operator: R9,167 – R11,627
• Switchboard/Reception: R8,000 – R12,037
• Admin Clerk: R14,000 – R18,821
• Secretary: R12,500 – R19,500
• Client/Customer Support: R15,000 – R22,800
• Personal Assistant: R20,000 – R28,793
• Human Resources: R25,000 – R37,963

Sales

The sales sector has seen some professionals being offered up to 42% more over the last five years. According to Pnet, those involved in account management are the most well-off:

• Telesales/ Telemarketing: R5,000 – R15,000
• Retail: R13,000 – R19,488
• Representative/ Sales Consulting: R16,000 – R24,916
• Account Management: R30,000 – R45,283

Finance

Salary offers for those in finance remain higher than in other sectors however have only seen a 25% increase over the last five years:

• Bookkeeping: R15,000 – R19,982
• Accounts payable/Receivable: R15,000 – R21,068
• Credit Management: R20,000 – R35,053
• Purchasing & Procurement: R25,000 – R36,895
• Financial/ Project Accounting: R30,000 – R39,262
• External Auditing: R34,784 – R44,750
• Cost and Management Accounting: R37,458 – R45,000
• Internal Auditing: R35,000 – R51,655
• Financial Analysis: R40,833 – R56,726

Business and management

“Over the last five years, salary offers for Business & Management professionals have increased by up to 17%,” said Pnet:

• Staff recruitment/ Selection: R12,000 – R20,000
• Team leader & Supervisor: R22,917 – R37,703
• Employee Training/ Development: R35,000 – R46,174
• Infrastructure/ Operations Consulting: R30,000 – R46,228
• Business Development: R30,000 – R47,131
• Middle/ Department Management: R41,667 – R59,523
• Senior Management: R45,000 – R61,980
• Strategy Consulting: R36,000 – R65,000
• Executive Management/ Director: R100,000 – R138,930

Information Technology

Despite some major salaries in management positions, the Information Technology sector has been pulling in some of the highest salaries in South Africa due to their increased demand.

“Over the last five years, salary offers for IT professionals have increased by up to 72%,” said Pnet:

• Systems/ Network Administration: R25,000 – R41,806
• Database Design/ Development/ Admin: R40,000 – R56,969
• Systems Analysis: R41,491 – R57,211
• Data Analysis/ Data Warehousing: R40,000 – R62,346
• Business Analysis: R44,000 – R65,000
• Software Development: R40,000 – R65,111
• IT Project Administration/ Management: R54,058 – R72,000
• Technical/ Business Architecture: R60,355 – R90,000

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