Pay rise checker
Did your raise keep up?
Put in your pay and your increase. We set it against the latest inflation, the cost of a household food basket and the petrol price, over the same twelve months.
+4.4% · Stats SA, the last twelve months (Aug)
Your real raise+0.6%You beat it: +R144 a month in today’s money
Raise needed to keep up: +4.4%, or R1,100 a month
+2.0% · PMBEJD, the same month a year earlier (2026-09)
Your real raise+2.9%You beat it: +R730 a month in today’s money
Raise needed to keep up: +2.0%, or R505 a month
+39.9% · Official price, the same month a year earlier (October 2026)
Your real raise-24.9%You fell behind: -R6,230 a month in today’s money
Raise needed to keep up: +39.9%, or R9,963 a month
Your real raise is your increase with price growth taken out: (1 + raise) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. If it is negative, your pay buys less than it did a year ago, even though the number went up.
Inflation from Statistics South Africa; the food basket from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD); petrol from the official monthly price. Your own costs may rise faster or slower. Information, not advice.
QuestionsGood to know.
Your increase after inflation. A 5% raise when prices rose 4% is a real raise of about 1%.
CPI is the official measure for the average household. If most of your money goes on food or transport, the food basket and petrol lines may be closer to your own experience.
The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group prices a basket of 44 foods that lower-income households buy, every month, in supermarkets across South Africa.
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