In real terms, however, South Africans’ earnings tanked, with inflation having a significant impact.<\/p>\n
BankservAfrica\u2019s data confirms the negative impact of inflation on salaries, with an 8.3% y\/y decline in the average real take-home salary in February 2023 to R14,225<\/strong>, compared to a year earlier (R15,510).<\/p>\n This reality has filtered through to lower consumption expenditure by households and a notable drop in confidence levels as reported in the recent FNB\/BER Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), which plunged to -23 index points in Q1 2023, indicating the concern among consumers about South Africa\u2019s economic prospects and their household finances.<\/p>\n The economic environment remains difficult for many companies challenged by the harsh load shedding, high production costs, elevated interest rates and moderating demand, all contributing to dismal growth.<\/p>\n However, the latest BankservAfrica data suggests the job market has stabilised, Naidoo said.<\/p>\n After two consecutive months of notable declines in the number of salaries paid into South Africans\u2019 bank accounts, BankservAfrica\u2019s data – adjusted for weekly payments – suggests a few jobs were created in February.<\/p>\n Independent economist Elize Kruger said that, though not much, any stability in the job market is welcomed amid a challenging economic environment.<\/p>\n “The job market is still recovering from heavy losses that occurred due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n According to the December 2022 Quarterly Employment Statistics report, employment in the non-agricultural business sector stood at 9.968 million at the end of 2022, compared to the pre-Covid level of 10.3 million in Q1 2020.<\/p>\n The job market is clearly still playing catch-up, which remains a challenge amid the low growth reality in South Africa, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWith little indication of a notably different economic environment in 2023, but rather even lower economic growth forecasted for 2023 compared to 2022, the job market is likely to remain lacklustre.<\/p>\n “Furthermore, consumer inflation has been moderating rather slowly, resulting in the ongoing erosion of the purchasing power of households,” said Kruger.<\/p>\n Consumer inflation reached a 13-year high of 6.9% in 2022 (2009: 7.1%) and is forecast to average around 5.8% in 2023. However, February\u2019s headline and core inflation rates unexpectedly surprised to the upside, ticking higher to 7.0% y\/y and 5.2% y\/y, respectively.<\/p>\n The BankservAfrica Private Pensions Index (BPPI) in nominal terms remained flat compared to the previous month at R10,054, 6.2% higher than a year earlier, and slightly above the monthly average in 2022, which realised at R9 985, according to Naidoo.<\/p>\n In real terms, the average real private pension in February 2023 came to R9,473, marginally lower compared to a year earlier, signalling that the purchasing power of pensioners has largely been preserved amid the high inflation environment.<\/p>\n The average nominal pension payment represents 66.2% of the average take-home pay in February 2023.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Take-home-pay-Feb-2023.png\")
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