These jobs have seen the biggest salary cuts in South Africa

CareerJunction’s latest Industry Report highlighted the jobs which saw the steepest salary decline in South Africa right now – with monthly salaries declining by as much as 24% year-on-year.

The report provides a detailed analysis of the current online job market in South Africa, with a focus on the supply and demand for different occupations.

The data used in the report was collected from 5,000 major recruiters, agencies, and employers who advertise job vacancies on the CareerJunction portal.

The latest Industry Report by the company indicates a significant 13% decrease in hiring in September 2023 compared to the previous year, with a 12% decrease in activity compared to July 2023.

The decline in hiring activity is mainly due to a sharp drop in hiring for Admin, Office & Support professionals. However, despite the decline, some jobs are still in high demand in South Africa, such as Building & Construction, which has seen a 22% increase in demand compared to the previous year.

Based on the advertised vacancies during the last 12 months in South Africa, the highest-paying sectors were Business & Management, Information Technology, and Architecture & Engineering.

Executive Management or Director is currently the highest-paying position in the country, with a monthly salary ranging between R91,667 and R125,000.

The second highest-paying position is that of a Technical or Business Architect, with a monthly salary ranging between R65,000 and R90,000.

A Consultant Engineer holds the third position, with a median salary between R43,204 and R70,833 per month.

The fourth and fifth positions are held by Mechanical and Civil or Structural Engineers, respectively, with monthly salaries ranging from R33,333 to R66,667 and R41,667 to R65,833.

Jobs with the steepest year-on-year decline in salary

As part of the report, when comparing salary offers of the highest-paying professions, CareerJunction noted a declining salary trend was evident in certain sectors – mostly driven by a decline in demand for certain skills as well as general talent availability.

According to the report, Electrical engineering saw the steepest drop in salary – declining 24% to around R30,000 to R50,000 per month. This was followed by IT Project Administration / Management in 2nd, with salary offers shrinking by 10% to R50,000 to R60,000.

Despite being the highest-paying position in the country, Executive Management / Director ranked 3rd, with a 7% drop in salary over the past 12 months.

The rest of the top five jobs that saw the steepest salary decline in South Africa, including those mentioned above, are given in the table below.

Read: Over 1,200 businesses have shut their doors in South Africa this year