Workers in South Africa’s formal, non-agricultural sectors earn the best average salaries, research finds.
Statistics SA’s Quarterly Employment Survey reveals that those who work in the electricity, gas, and water supply industries get the highest salaries.
According to the survey, the employees in the above sectors receive R46,700 a month, followed by those who work in finance, who earn R31,780 a month.
Formal workers, the survey found, earned a total of R799 billion in the three-month period ending March 2022, averaging R26,366 a month per worker.
The government sector had lower earnings than the previous quarters at R29,619 per month.
The lowest earners are those employed in the manufacturing sector, particularly in the textiles, clothing and leather, at R10,479 on average.
In the electricity and water supply sector, the top earners are within the business services sector – specifically in jobs auxiliary to financial intermediation – who earn an average of R82,400 per month.
Next in line are those involved with sea and coastal water transport, earning R65,160, insurance and pension funding with R54,320, banking and financial intermediation with R52,400, and electricity, gas, steam, and water supply, with R50,900.
Footwear manufacturers are the lowest earners on average, taking only R8,990 a month.
