South Africa\u2019s take-home pay for October increased the most in two years and reached new highs in value, the latest BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) shows.<\/p>\n
This index measures wages that are transferred to employee bank accounts.<\/p>\n
“Take-home pay reflected a high nominal increase of 7.2% on a year-on-year basis and reached R16,173<\/strong>. This is the first-time average take-home pay reached the R16,000 level,” said Shergeran Naidoo, head of Stakeholder Engagements at BankservAfrica.<\/p>\n “In real-terms, the BTPI increased by 3% year-on-year owing to slightly fewer actual payments, particularly in the lower end of monthly take-home pay.<\/p>\n “The average real-time payment was R14,300, the third-highest level ever recorded by BankservAfrica.\u201d<\/p>\n Naidoo said that the above-average rises in take-home pay in October were on the back of consumer price inflation (CPI) dropping to its lowest levels in eight years.<\/p>\n Inflation and Black Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n Mike Sch\u00fcssler, chief economist at economists.co.za, said that it is important to note that many salary adjustments are linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).<\/p>\n Therefore, lower inflation will probably lead to lower nominal increases over the next year, he said.<\/p>\n “However, the latest data shows inflation is expected to rise again. Back-dated wage increases for civil servants and year-end bonuses were the other reasons for the higher than usual real salary increases.”<\/p>\n Sch\u00fcssler said that the October take-home pay increase is likely to be a boost for retail sales in November.<\/p>\n “If the real take-home pay increases at the end of November are anywhere near October\u2019s levels, Black Friday sales will spike significantly,” said Sch\u00fcssler.<\/p>\n He added that the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index indicates October and November consumer spending will be as good as the increases seen last year – if not even better.<\/p>\n
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