Take home Index shows slight recovery in February: BankServAfrica

Many employed South Africans saw a slight increase in their take-home pay in February. This is according to the latest Take Home Index from BankServAfrica, which measures salaries paid into bank accounts.

The average nominal take-home pay rose to R15 186 during the month. However, the increases in salaries are still way below to counter the effects of rising consumer inflation.

BankservAfrica is a payments partner and Financial Markets Infrastructure to the financial services industry. Its index recorded a slight improvement in February take home salaries paid.

VIDEO: Take-home Index shows slight recovery: 

This is the highest level since October last year, but it is still 1.8% below the level measured a year ago. And economists say this improvement is still below CPI.

“Even if you do get a salary increase, if it’s not in line with inflation at the end of the day you are worse off, so inflation remains a negative impact for us at the moment,” says an independent economist, Elize Kruger.

While there’s an improvement in salaries, economists say the environment is not conducive to doing business. This is as many companies continue to grapple with negative economic impacts.

“This is not an environment conducive for job creation, the growth is too low, and a lot of companies are currently in a survival mode, trying to survive all the economic headwinds the entire production costs, load shedding adding to the difficulty in keeping doors open,” Kruger adds.

BankservAfrica says inflation has filtered through to lower consumption expenditure by households. And this is evident in a notable drop in consumer confidence levels, indicating the concern among consumers about South Africa’s economic prospects and their household finances.