{"id":734631,"date":"2023-11-29T10:57:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T08:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=734631"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:00:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T09:00:18","slug":"bad-news-for-take-home-pay-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/734631\/bad-news-for-take-home-pay-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for take-home pay in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) dropped in October after three consecutive months of increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe nominal average take-home pay was R15,535 in October 2023, tracking lower than the R15,691 recorded in the previous month,\u201d said Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica\u2019s Head of Stakeholder Engagements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The October figure was only 1.8% higher than the R15,265 in October 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the challenging economic environment, nominal salaries increased after stabilising in Q2. The nominal BTPI is still a healthy 6.6% higher than January 2023 and 3.9% higher in real terms. This signals that the erosion of purchasing power has eased compared to earlier parts of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, on a year-to-date basis, this is less impressive, with the average nominal BTPI of R15,197 only 0.4% higher than the corresponding period in 2022, while in real terms, the average BTPI is still 5.5% lower year-to-date compared to 2022,\u201d said Elize Kruger, Independent Economist.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The ability of companies to pay inflation-related salary increases was hurt over the last 18 months, primarily due to the significant increases in the operating cost environment, especially due to the impact of load shedding and global factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This aligns with the Remchannel Bi-annual 2023 Salary and Wage Movements survey from July, which showed that CPI is no longer the main determinant of salary increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annual growth in the average real take-home pay retracted in September and further in October, highlighting a sharp increase in headline inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real take-home pay declined from September’s R14,226 to R13,942 in October 2023 and is also 3.4% below the year-ago level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe renewed erosion in purchasing power has been driven by sharp fuel and food price increases that pushed headline CPI to 5.4% and 5.9% in September and October, respectively,\u201d said Kruger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, November saw a notable drop in fuel prices due to lower international oil prices and a slightly stronger rand exchange rate, with another cut expected in December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big petrol price cut coming in December<\/a><\/blockquote>