Middle and high income earners buoyant
According to the latest BankservAfrica Disposable Salary Index (BDSI), the salaries of middle to high income earners continue to grow in spite of significant stagnation in the economy.
Although monthly salary payments of R100 000 or more are not considered when compiling the BDSI, the BankservAfrica salary data does indicate that the number of people earning at this level per month has skyrocketed year on year by an astonishing 84% in February and 27% in April, says Brad Gillis, CEO regulated products at BankservAfrica.
"The nominal BDSI for April 2014 is exactly R11 200, which is 7.1% higher than a year ago. This means salaries have grown by 1% in real terms when inflation and other factors are taken into account.
"This is in line with data we have analysed over the last 10 months where South Africa has seen positive real salary increases, although this growth has remained under 1% since the beginning of 2014."
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