South African workers took home less pay in April 2026, with the average nominal net salary declining to R21 228 as households continued to battle rising living costs, high debt levels and mounting pressure on disposable income.
The PayInc Net Salary Index Report is released monthly and tracks the average nominal net salaries of approximately 2.1 million South African earners. The report, released on Wednesday, comes amid the conflict in the Middle East, which has contributed to rising prices for a range of goods and services, placing further pressure on household finances.
“The average nominal net salary declined to R21 228 in April 2026. This represents a 0.6% decrease from March and a 0.5% decline compared to April 2025,” said Shergeran Naidoo, head of stakeholder engagement at PayInc.
Middle East war puts pressure on take-home pay
The report noted that the decline in take-home pay was concerning, given that salaries in 2024 and 2025 increased briskly, keeping pace with inflation.
“The economic outlook has changed abruptly with the outbreak of the Middle East war, and the economic pain [has] already been felt by companies, and the broader economy appears to be already filtering through to the labour market,” the report noted.
“The war has introduced heightened economic uncertainty, placing pressure on company profitability and planning. With real economic growth forecast to be a mediocre 1.1% in 2026, similar to last year at best, the prospects for job creation and earnings growth remain dim.”
Take-home pay decreases, inflation rises
The report further noted that nominal growth in net salaries was declining, while inflation accelerated.
“The PayInc Net Salary Index declined in real terms by 1.2% on a monthly basis and by 2.7% compared to April 2025,” read the report. “At R20 244 in April, this is the lowest real salary level in two years.”
Naidoo said the fuel price increases in April and May completely derailed the favourable inflation outlook envisaged at the start of the year. April’s headline inflation rate of 4.0% was the highest since August 2024, while May’s headline inflation rate was forecast to be even higher at around 4.6%.
Inflation target to make matters worse
PayInc also highlighted that the deterioration in the outlook is troublesome with the South African Reserve Bank’s (Sarb) new inflation target of 3%.
“While central banks generally consider supply shocks, such as the oil price spike currently playing out, the probability of second-round effects (price increases in the broader basket) and the potential de-anchoring of inflation expectations will be on top of the minds of the members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) this week,” read the report.
“With average inflation forecasts of 4.4% and 4.1% for 2026 and 2027, respectively, the MPC will likely opt to hike interest rates pre-emptively in response to the deteriorating inflation outlook.”
Inflation to hurt salaries
The PayInc Net Salary Index noted that the anticipated worsening inflation scenario will hit salary earners on multiple fronts.
Firstly, fuel and increasingly other items are becoming more expensive (on top of administered prices and medical insurance escalations) as the purchasing power of salary earners is dwindling, as reflected in declining real salaries.
Secondly, the Sarb may react to the worsening inflation outlook by hiking the interest rates, pushing up the cost of credit and further impacting the disposable income of salary earners.
And thirdly, companies are likely to revert to a conservative mode in light of economic pressures, postponing investment plans and pausing workforce expansion. This will not be a conducive environment for employee earnings growth or job creation in 2026.