Africa-Press – South-Africa. The latest earnings data from the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) show that extra-budgetary institutions (EBI) in South Africa earn the highest average salaries in government.
Extra-budgetary institutions (EBIs) are government agencies that operate outside of normal parliamentary processes but still deliver services to and on behalf of the national government.
Examples include services such as the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the Road Accident Fund (RAF), and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
According to the QES pay data, these institutions are classified as government sector entities in the industry listings and earned an average of R56,413 per month in the third quarter of the year.
The latest QES data represents pay trends between July and September 2025.
Overall, EBI workers had the fifth-highest average salaries over the quarter, ranking below those in tech services, electricity and water utilities, and financial intermediaries.
However, EBI workers are not alone in their higher-than-average earnings in the government sector.
All government sectors saw average earnings higher than the formal, non-agricultural average of R29,490 in the quarter.
The government is one of the largest employers in the country, with over 1.3 million people working in the public service.
State employees in South Africa earn high salaries, having received increases for decades that are far higher than inflation.
While government wages were frozen during the tumultuous Covid years, unions and the state have moved back towards above-inflation increases in negotiations once again.
In the approved budget for 2025, the National Treasury had to add billions more to state expenses to cover the latest wage bill increases.
The government agreed to a 5.5% wage hike for workers this year. The agreement exceeded the 2024 Budget and MTBPS projections.
According to the National Treasury, this agreement will cost the fiscus an additional R7.3 billion in 2025/26, R7.8 billion in 2026/27 and R8.2 billion in 2027/28.
Comparing the year-on-year averages for the sector, National Departments saw the biggest increase in salaries, averaging 10.3%. Local government workers saw the lowest hike at 1.7%.
#Government SectorQ3 2024
AverageQ3 2025
AverageChange5Extra Budgetary institutionsR53,112R56,413+6.2%20National departmentsR36,645R40,424+10.3%24Provincial departmentsR34,801R36,777+5.7%28Universities and technikonsR33,646R35,372+5.1%39Local governmentR31,190R31,734+1.7%41TVET CollegesR29,359R31,158+6.1%South Africa AverageR28,274R29,490+4.3%Source: Stats SA | BusinessTech
Underworked and overpaid
In the 2025 budget, over 30%, or R814.5 billion, is allocated for employee compensation.
Studies from the IMF and the World Bank estimate that South Africa’s public sector wage bill has consistently consumed between 12% and 13% of the country’s GDP.
A Centre for Risk Analysis report showed that South Africa has the third-highest government wage bill as a share of GDP among 20 major economies.
The public sector wage bill is 3.5% higher than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average.
According to economist Dawie Roodt, South Africa’s state employees are inefficient, underworked and severely overpaid.
While acknowledging that this does not apply to all public servants, he stressed that when considering everyone who receives a state salary, approximately 2 million people are receiving inflated pay.
This is contrasted with around 28 million South Africans who are receiving state grants, and the government’s plans to expand state dependence through unworkable schemes, such as National Health Insurance.
The huge issue, Roodt said, is that the state is completely inefficient, and without economic growth, the current levels of spending are unsustainable—and getting worse.
“What I’m very concerned about is the efficiency of the state. (More) people want to work for the state—ask young people what they want to be, and they want to become civil servants,” he said
“This is because civil servants, as a rule—not all of them—are hugely overpaid and hugely underworked.”
Roodt said this extends to all arms of the state, including local authorities, state-owned enterprises, and individuals working for various state departments, etc.
“We cannot afford this. We’ve got two million civil servants in South Africa. We’ve got 28 million people receiving grants from the state. We cannot afford this,” he said.
“That is the reality. If your economy does not produce more stuff, you cannot have so many people who depend on the state.”
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