News South Asia

South African salaries in 2015: what people earn

The CareerJunction Index is compiled exclusively for the South African workforce and HR/recruitment professionals.

Findings are based on actual salary offerings on the CareerJunction website (28,000+ jobs monthly) for the latest measurable period (4th Quarter 2014 and 1st Quarter of 2015).

According to CareerJunction, the best paid employees in South Africa are those in ICT, finance and engineering fields, with many salaries stretching to over R45,000 monthly.

On the other end of the spectrum, professionals in the fields of admin, office and support, design, media and arts, Manufacturing & Assembly and Warehousing & Logistics are the lowest earners, with some salaries starting as low as R5,600 per month.

Notably, salaries in Gauteng were found to be 20-30% higher than in the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

The salaries listed below are divided by sector (listed alphabetically), and include the average regional differences in pay.

BusinessTech highlights the jobs with the highest and lowest averages; however, the salaries are listed as a range.

** indicates where salary information was not available due to low market demand for those skill sets.

Admin, Office, and Support
•Highest paid: Human resources officers – R29,878
•Lowest paid: Tellers and cashiers – R5,651

Building and Construction
•Highest paid: Structural engineers – R59,218
•Lowest paid: Plumbers, pipe and steam fitters – R14,365

Design, Media and Arts
•Highest paid: Web designers, multimedia and 3D designers – R37,708
•Lowest paid: TV, video and movie operators – R9,061

Engineering
•Highest paid: Mining engineers – R77,031
•Lowest paid: Automotive engineers – R26,922

Finance
•Highest paid: Actuaries – R52,315
•Lowest paid: Credit controllers – R13,543

ICT
•Highest paid: Technical and business architects, and business analysis – R56,083
•Lowest paid: Radio and satellite technology – R16,532

Marketing
•Highest paid: Marketing managers – R46,485
•Lowest paid: Marketing assistants- R13,571

Manufacturing and Assembly
•Highest paid: Plant managers – R45,100
•Lowest paid: Plant and system operators – R9,770

Sales
•Highest paid: Sales managers – R43,733
•Lowest paid: Travel agents – R9,700

Warehousing and Logistics
•Highest paid: Logistics managers- R52,111
•Lowest paid: Dispatchers and receivers – R10,627