Paying the education wage bill price
Spending on education necessities is being sacrificed to fund a bloated wage bill. In the past three years, provincial education departments have increased spending on personnel by 22.3%, despite shedding 2,800 jobs
Over the past three years provincial education departments have quietly shed 2,800 jobs, or 0.5% of their workforce, yet increased their collective spending on personnel by a whopping 22.3%, according to analysis by the Financial Mail. Their total compensation for employees, which included nonteaching personnel, rose from R135.6bn in 2013/2014 to R165.9bn in 2016/2017, while the head count fell from 519,817 to 517,018, according to the estimates of provincial revenue and expenditure published by treasury. Treasury’s own calculations tell a similar story: in 2009/2010 there were 404,733 full-time equivalent teachers earning an average of R317,028/year (in real 2016 rand); seven years later, there were 404,281 teachers earning an average of R374,450. The soaring wage bill is already crowding out spending on necessities such as textbooks. If the trend continues — a real prospect, given the clout of the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in public sector wage talks — it could reverse ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.