SETP No. 14 The Economic Value of Incremental Employment in the ...

Provincial differences
3.12 In the process of determining wage paid in the construction industry, wages are
reported for the construction industry generally and the two subsectors of housing
construction and civil engineering. Other subsectors are not reported, as they are
less likely to have potential for public work projects. The wages that are reported
are based on the 1994 construction census inflated to 2000 values
3.13 Average salaries paid in the industry generally and the two subsectors are
reported in Table 3.3 and represented graphically in Figure 3.6. These are
average salaries across all skill levels and includes unskilled, skilled and
professionals.
3.14 There is substantial variation in average industry salaries between provinces. In
2000 values, average wages in the construction industry varied between a high of
over R28,000 pa in the Eastern Cape and a low of a little over R20,000 in the
Northern Cape. The value of these differences are shown in Table 3.4 below
3.15 There are substantial provincial variations in salaries paid in the different
subsectors .
The Western Cape, for example, has construction salaries that are, on average,
nearly 6% higher than the national average. In house construction salaries are
more than 10% higher than the national average. Yet in civil engineering these
are 2% less than the national average. The Northern Cape, in contrast, has
salaries that are nearly 19% lower than the national average, with house
construction 16% lower than the national average. Civil engineering, in contrast,
has salaries 30% above the national average Working on house construction in
Gauteng is financially the most attractive proposition in the construction industry
with salaries over 20% greater than the national average.
3.16 On the whole, and as is evident in Figure 3.6, average salaries in civil
engineering are generally higher than the industry average in each particular
province – as an average of all occupations. In contrast salaries paid to those in
house construction are well below provincial industry averages. For construction
workers the least financially attractive place to built houses is in the Northern
Cape and Northern Province where salaries are R15,000 and nearly R17,000
respectively (per annum 2000 values). This equates to monthly salaries (plus
bonus) of than R1,200 and R1,300 a month respectively
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