The National Treasury has published a series of new reports for its Cities Support Programme (CSP), detailing the wages of taxpayers in South Africa’s major metros – including the country’s economic hubs in the greater Johannesburg area.
The reports are based on spatial data mined from anonymised administrative tax data, documenting employment and firm-level statistics at a sub-municipal level.
The data used for this specific analysis was primarily built from IRP5 and IT3(a) tax forms.
While the data provides a broad picture of the income distributions in South Africa’s major metros – and maps the areas where these are concentrated – Treasury has warned that it doesn’t tell the full story.
Because it deals with formal tax data submissions, it’s only reflective of South Africa’s formal employment sector, missing the nuances and distributions in the informal sector.
The data is also susceptible to administrative and human error – particularly where companies file all employees as working from head office. In such cases, there’s a high concentration of salary data in one location, where the reality may be a workforce dispersed among several branches.
Despite these drawbacks, it is the most complete and comprehensive picture we have at present to map formal income distribution in major metros.
Treasury’s reports cover individual metros, but in Gauteng, three major metros – Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane – are close together.
This ‘greater Joburg’ area is on its way to becoming a ‘mega city’, anchored as the economic capital of the country.
And despite their close proximity, each metro exhibits its own distribution pattern and income trend – with Ekurhuleni, in particular, exhibiting an unexpectedly high concentration of wealth.
Approximately a quarter (25%) of the jobs within Tshwane are for work being paid between R3,200 and R6,400 per month in the 2017 tax year, which is similarly the largest wage band for all other metros in South Africa. 23% of the jobs in City of Johannesburg fall into this range.
Tshwane’s distribution is slightly right-skewed, particularly above R12,800, indicating a slightly higher percentage of the employment opportunities existing in the higher wage bands.
This is to be expected considering that there are some head offices in Tshwane, as well as most National Government Departments, diplomatic missions and other government-related firms, Treasury said.
Ekandustria was identified as the area with the highest median income. This is closely followed by parts of Mabopane, Akasia, and Roodeplaat.
There is a mid-level median income concentration all across Centurion, while lower median income areas are located around Mamelodi, Hammanskraal and Ekangala.
Joburg’s distribution skews even further falling into the R51,200 a month-plus category. Joburg has the highest proportion of employees at all higher wage bands.
“This is likely a signifier of Joburg being the economic hub of South Africa with a high number of head offices – where employees would be paid significantly more – located in Joburg,” Treasury said.
The corridor running from Joburg CBD through Rosebank and Sandton has the highest median income.
“Sunninghill is also a noted concentration, however, this is likely skewed due to the major firm who appears to have filed all employees nationally at a head office there,” Treasury said.
There are generally higher median incomes across the north of Johannesburg, with particular reference to Midrand, parts of Modderfontein, Witkoppen/Bryanston and surrounds, as well as Florida.
There are significantly lower median incomes in parts of Soweto, Orange Farm, around Sydenham and large parts of Roodepoort.
The real outlier here, however, is Ekurhuleni, where a quarter of the jobs within the metro pay between R6,400 and R12,800 per month (taking into account inflation). This is a higher proportion than any other major metro.
“The distribution is also skewed to the right, suggesting a higher concentration of jobs with salaries above R12,800, until the R25,600-R51,200 band, where Joburg has the highest percentage of employees,” Treasury said.
“This may be attributable to the types of industry that exist within Ekurhuleni and salaries associated with this type of work.”
The report identifies the airport and parts of Kempton Park CBD as having the highest median income. Midstream, parts of Germiston CBD and Wadeville all have relatively high levels of median income, however, the rest of the metro has a relatively constant median income throughout, Treasury said.
Distribution based on location
The three metros have very different wealth distribution patterns.
In Joburg, most of the higher-paying jobs are concentrated in the ‘norther suburbs’. The concentrations of employment opportunities below R3,200 per month have a generally low distribution across the municipality, however, there are some areas where there are slightly higher percentages in Orange Farm, parts of Soweto and Diepsloot, Treasury said.
“As this increases to below R6,400, there is significantly higher concentrations of these employees in the greater Roodepoort area and Linskfield.
This shifts towards the South of Joburg, Ennerdale, Modderfontein and parts of Midrand as wages increase to below R12,800, with a clear lack of concentration along the corridor from Johannesburg CBD to Sandton.
“There is a general distribution of jobs between R12,800 and R25,600 per month. We then start to see concentrations forming in along the corridor between Joburg CBD to Sandton, with a particularly high level of Sunninghill – likely relating to a major firm that was filing all employees nationally at the head office in Sunninghill.”
Joburg monthly wage distribution
In Ekurhuleni, the concentrations of employment opportunities below R6,400 are generally located in Meyersdal and some other parts of Alberton, Tembisa, an area stretching from Duduza/Tsakane to Kwa Thema, Bapsfontein and Bonaero Park, the researchers noted.
“As the wage band increases there is a general increase in the distribution everywhere across Ekurhuleni, however, there are still focal points in Daveyton, Tembisa/Northern Kempton Park, Benoni CBD, Nigel and Bapsfontein.
“These general increases across Ekurhuleni becomes less pronounced between R12,800 and R25,600 per month.”
As the wage band increases above R51,200 per month these opportunities start to focus specifically in Midstream and a triangular area stretching from Bedfordview to Jet Park/Isando and up to Kempton Park CBD, as well as Wadeville and Springs – albeit at a much less significant level of concentration.
Ekurhuleni monthly wage distribution
Treasury said the concentrations of employment opportunities below R6,400 in Tshwane are generally located in parts of Pretoria North, Ekangala and some very localised spots around Pretoria CBD and Mamelodi.
“As we move up the wage band ladder these opportunities start to concentrate towards Rosslyn/Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane, Bronkhorstspruit and to some extent Hammanskraal – some areas associated with industrial activity.
“As the wage bands increase above R25,600 per month there are general decreases in percentage concentrations of employees across Tshwane.”
Tshwane monthly wage distribution
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