The year-on-year average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 4.0%.<\/p>\n
Gross earnings paid to employees increased by R0.5 billion or 0.1%, from R786.8 billion in March 2022 to R787.3 billion in June 2022. This was largely due to increases in the following industries: transport, community services, trade, construction and mining.<\/p>\n
However, there were decreases in the following industries: business services, manufacturing, and electricity.<\/p>\n
The year-on-year gross earnings increased by R33.6 billion or 4.5% between June 2021 and June 2022.<\/p>\n
Basic salary\/wages paid to employees increased by R10.3 billion or 1.5%, from R706.7 billion in March 2022 to R717 billion in June 2022. Year-on-year, basic salary\/wages increased by R26.2 billion or 3.8% between June 2021 and June 2022.<\/p>\n
Middle class<\/strong><\/p>\n Recent data published by The University of Cape Town\u2019s Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing showed that a household needs to earn around R22,000 to be considered middle class in South Africa.<\/p>\n This would mean that the average formally-employed non-agricultural worker in the country would fit into that class category. It also aligns with data from FNB, which paints a broader definition of someone earning between R15,000 and R40,000 a month.<\/p>\n While this may seem to be a relatively high number, the middle class in South Africa is under extreme pressure, often having to pay double for private services – i.e., after paying tax – like security and healthcare. Consumers in this class are also highly indebted, paying off bonds, vehicle finance and credit.<\/p>\n Data from FNB estimates that it takes a mere five days for middle-income consumers in the country to spend up to 80% of their monthly salary. This suggests that the average middle-income consumer, earning between R180,000 \u2013 R500,000 per annum, survives on 20% of their monthly salary for more than 20 days in a month.<\/p>\n Employment and jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n The QES data reflects the number of people receiving salaries and does not reflect employment\/unemployment trends, which are covered by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey.<\/p>\n The QES data showed that total employment decreased by 119,000 or 1.2% quarter-on-quarter, from 10,067,000 in March 2022 to 9,948,000 in June 2022. This was largely due to decreases in the following industries: community services (-100,000 or -3.4%), business services (-15,000 or -0.6%), construction (-13,000 or -2.4%), manufacturing (-12,000 or -1.0%) and electricity (-1,000 or -1.7%).<\/p>\n However, there were increases in the following industries: trade (17,000 or 0.8%), mining (4,000 or 0.9%) and transport (1,000 or 0.2%).<\/p>\n Total employment increased by 74,000 or 0.7% year-on-year between June 2021 and June 2022.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Basic-salary-by-industry-Q2.png\")
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