Michael Page has released its 2024 salary guide for South Africa, detailing the salary ranges professionals can expect in various professional services such as banking, IT, sales and marketing, finance, engineering, manufacturing, and procurement. Despite economic headwinds, South Africa's economy has shown significant resilience, which has also filtered through to business operations. Businesses still have demand for professional skills and are willing to pay a premium for them, with candidates prioritizing higher salary increases above all else when considering new job offers.
The demand for technical expertise, especially within the technology and renewable energy sectors, remains robust, while there has been a growing "hunger" for adept sales and general business leaders. However, job opportunities are not yet available. The first quarter of 2024 has seen a slow start to the year from a hiring point of view, with an anticipated uptake in recruitment demand in the second half of the year. This should be boosted by added investor and market confidence in the country following the 2024 elections and the establishment of the Government of National Unity.
Professional positions in South Africa are some of the highest-paying jobs in the country, something that has already been noted on a national level through the Stats SA Quarterly Employment Survey. In the latest QES, those working in the finance sector were identified as having the highest average earnings over the first quarter of the year, pulling in an average of R90,000 a month (R1 million a year). According to Michael Page's salary data, there are professional jobs that pay well over this across the categories it covers.
The group identified at least 50 professional roles where salaries have the potential to hit R160,000 per month (R2 million a year) and beyond. While most of these positions are senior roles, it shows the significant earning potential skilled professionals in South Africa can have. The top pay is also reserved for those working at multinational groups (MNC), but the earning potential in SMEs is also significant and well over R1 million for similar positions.
