The Gauteng and Western Cape provinces stand out as the regions with the highest salaries, with median earnings well above those of other areas.
This is one of the findings from the CareerJunction Index for 2013, which provides data on compensation patterns across regions and disciplines for the top 10 industry sectors including: finance; IT; telecoms; marketing; sales; mining; manufacturing and assembly; admin; office and support; engineering; and building and construction.
Comparing 2013 salaries with those from 2012, findings reveal lower remuneration rates for qualified mining professionals overall. Earning potential among mining engineers and safety, health and environmental professionals is down by a considerable 23%.
While IT salaries saw minimal change year-on-year, salary offerings for skilled and senior database administrators/developers increased by 8% to 19% compared to 2012. According to the review the best paid IT employees are still business analysts, who can expect salary offerings of between 5% and 9% more.
The engineering sector saw a rise in salaries for 2013, with the exception of mining engineers as well as project and management engineering professionals. Earning potential among civil, structural and mechanical engineers is up by between 5% and 14% in 2013, as compared against the previous year.
A similar trend is seen for accounting professionals in the finance sector, who earn between 6% and 16% more.