DURBAN - THE LATEST data from the BankservAfrica Take home Pay Index (BTPI) yesterday showed a steep decline in the number of take-home payments, which had adjusted the average South African salary by a few percentage points
The number of take-home payments processed in December increased while the number of employees declined.
“The real average take-home pay increased by 2.1 percent year-on-year,” said Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica’s head of Stakeholder Engagements.
“The reason behind this is not positive. The average salary rose as a result of the decline in the number of lower paid earners that led to a 5.4 percent nominal increase. The total take-home pay in real terms declined by 2 percent year-on-year.”
Mike Schüssler, chief economist at economists.co.za, said the aggregate take-home pay decline proved to be not too excessive. However, this has come off a very low annual base. In December 2019, the number amounted to 4 percent less than December 2018.
“Although Ters payments applications closed in September, it reopened in November for October applications to assist industries feeling the brunt of the lockdown impact. These payments were still being paid in December,” said Schüssler.
The automated payments clearing house said this was mostly due to the delay in Covid-19 UIF Ters payments.
By early December, these payments added up to R55.6 billion in 12.9 payments to millions of workers from the 1.1 million employer applications. Most of these payments were paid from May to September while about 10 percent was paid during November and early December. This data was obtained from UIF statements.
Meanwhile, the number of employees paid took a knock with daily and lower paid employees affected the most by the lockdown. Interestingly, weekly take-home pay numbers increased in December 2020. This could be linked with December 2019 being a low base for the number of people paid.
According to the index, 12 out of the 17 payment ranges under R25 000 were affected while none of those earning more than R25 000 recorded a decline in December 2019.
Overall, the number of employees estimated to have been paid over the December period declined by 5.4 percent. | Given Majola