{"id":849075,"date":"2026-01-28T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=849075"},"modified":"2026-01-28T12:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:07:20","slug":"great-news-for-salaries-in-south-africa-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/849075\/great-news-for-salaries-in-south-africa-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Great news for salaries in South Africa in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans should expect real salary increases in 2026, given the positive economic developments for South Africa, including record-high commodity prices, a stronger rand, and low inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the view of PayInc, which released its Net Salary Index, which tracks net salaries of approximately 2.15 million salary earners in South Africa, and which moderated slightly in December 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough the average nominal salary flattened in December 2025 at R21,397, it was still 1.8% higher than a year ago,\u201d says Shergeran Naidoo, Head of Stakeholder Engagements at PayInc.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upward trend in net salaries during 2024 continued into 2025, with the average nominal salary increasing 3.7%, compared to 4.6% in the prior year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sustained recovery in salaries reflects the gradual improvement in economic activity and the economy\u2019s resilience, despite multiple challenges,\u201d said Elize Kruger, Independent Economist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In real terms, the PayInc Net Salary Index declined by 0.3% month-on-month to R20,641 in December, marking the sixth consecutive month below year-ago levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with average consumer inflation at only 3.2% in 2025, the average real net salary as measured by the PayInc Net Salary Index was still up by 0.5% compared to 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kruger is optimistic that 2026 will deliver another year of real salary growth, given the country’s positive economic developments. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Looking up for South Africa <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the low inflation and stronger rand, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) also has scope to cut interest rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carpe Diem Research predicts real GDP growth of 1.6% in 2026, up from an estimated 1.3% in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer inflation is expected to rise to 3.4% in 2026, up from a 21-year low of 3.2% in 2025, as price-setting is driven by moderate global oil prices, a stronger rand and easing inflation expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA gradual downward trend in wage settlements in the medium term can be expected as companies start to embrace the lower inflation expectations,\u201d said Kruger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, multi-year wage agreements, set under the previous inflation target regime, will support the average salary increase in the economy for some time.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent Andrew Levy Employment Publication poll on stakeholder and company expectations about remuneration showed companies anticipated salary increases would remain at the same level as the last settlement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding increases for salaried staff, 67% of respondents anticipated increases ranging from 4% to 5.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings also show that it will take time for wage expectations to adjust to the new lower inflation target adopted for South Africa in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another factor determining wage adjustments is the growing influence of skills retention on remuneration strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest Remchannel Quarterly report shows that skills retention now accounts for 25.8% of the criteria local companies use when determining salary increases, indicating a shift toward skills-based pay structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a second consecutive year of real income growth, 2025 was a positive year for earners and supported higher consumption, as reflected in stronger retail sales,” said Kruger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Given the positive developments in the economy, a repeat performance is likely in 2026.” <\/p>\n\n\n

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South Africans are set for real salary increases in 2026 amid the massive improvements in the local economy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":808603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[23495],"class_list":["post-849075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-payinc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849104,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849075\/revisions\/849104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}