How much you should be earning in your 20s in South Africa

With many young people looking for work in 2016, having completed their degrees, data from salary research group, PayScale, shows what South Africans in their 20s are earning.

PayScale conducted a study in 2014, which found that both men and women typically see a salary increase of 60% by the age of 30.

Different careers will “peak” at different stages, with economists at PayScale noting that any career “where you get the majority of your training in school and the first few years (work) is not going to see much pay growth after that”.

Your salary in your 20s

Payscale’s data is based on self-reported salary information from over 126,000 South Africans with up to 10 years of experience.

It is important to note that salaries are mostly determined by years of experience, and not by age. However, it can be assumed that experience and age are closely aligned if  most employees leave university at age 21.

According to the data, in their first year of work, young South Africans can expect to earn an average of R151,820 a year.

This increases to an average salary of R208,000 (1 – 4 years of experience), before hitting around R358,000 by the time people reach the age of 30 (5 – 9 years of experience).

According to Payscale, the following represent the most popular positions for people in their 20s, based on level of experience, and median salary.

Most popular jobs: < 1 year experience

Most popular jobs: 1 – 4 years experience

Most popular jobs: 5 – 9 years experience

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