The countries in darker red are nations where workers are compensated the most.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly developed countries typically compensate their employees the best, with Switzerland paying out an average of $85,718 a year (R1,031,054).<\/p>\n
At the other end of the scale, workers in India can expect to earn just $1,670 (R20,087) annually.<\/p>\n
Click on image to enlarge.<\/em><\/p>\n While countries like Denmark pay extremely well compared to other countries on the list, they are also known for high tax rates.<\/p>\n CapRelo calculated this amount by\u00a0taking post-tax earnings and dividing them by pre-tax earnings.<\/p>\n Using this methodology the differences in take-home and nominal pay become much more pronounced.<\/p>\n Click on image to enlarge.<\/em><\/p>\n As a final consideration, CapRelo also looked at the purchasing power of these countries to determine\u00a0how much the post-tax take-home pay was actually \u201cworth.\u201d<\/p>\n They did this using the\u00a0Big Mac Index<\/strong><\/a>, a metric devised by\u00a0The Economist<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that takes the price of a McDonald\u2019s Big Mac in two countries to determine the relative value of money in each place.<\/p>\n “As a result, we see that while somewhere like Russia has an average post-tax take-home pay amount equivalent to just $8,456, that money allows someone to buy the same amount of ‘stuff’ as someone with $19,488 in America,” CapRelo said.<\/p>\n “On the flip side, Switzerland\u2019s average take-home pay of $84,006 only goes as far as $65,567 would in the United States.”<\/p>\n Click on image to enlarge.<\/em><\/p>\n South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n While South Africa does not feature in CapRelo’s report, it’s still possible to get an indication of where South Africa sits on the list, based on local data.<\/p>\n According to BankservAfrica\u2019s latest<\/a> <\/strong>monthly data, the average take home pay in South Africa right now is\u00a0R14,502.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This equates to an average annual salary of R174,024 ($14,447) putting South Africa in the middle of the list, somewhere between Greece ($14,967) and Portugal ($13,108).<\/p>\n While this is a somewhat surprising position for South Africa, it must also be remembered that employees in Portugal and Greece are earning in euros, which has a much stronger power relative to the dollar than the rand.<\/p>\n Purchasing power<\/strong><\/p>\n South Africa has one of the most undervalued currencies in the world, where at January 2018 it was undervalued by 53.6%. This means that a South African in the US would expect to pay a lot more for the same product that would be less than half the price in their home country.<\/p>\n While the rand is currently trading just over R12 to the dollar, the Big Mac Index assessment says it should actually be R5.68<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the US, a Big Mac sells for $5.30 on average in 2018 \u2013 in South Africa the R30 price is equivalent to $2.45.<\/p>\n In other words, $1 in\u00a0South Africa<\/span>\u00a0would be able to buy the same amount as $2.16<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0United States<\/span>, making South Africa’s average take-home worth $31,207, in terms of purchasing power.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-1-927x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-2-930x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Caprelo-3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n