Purchasing Power
By David Carte, 13 December 2006

Measured by after tax purchasing power, South African executives are among the best paid in the world.

The graph, prepared by PE Corporate Services, compares executive pay in seven OECD countries and three in Africa with that in SA. Only in the United States are executive pay packages more generous in terms of what one can buy after tax.

Americans are in a league of their own, bringing more 20% more than SA’s executives.

The graph compares average gross remuneration in each country after deduction of tax and social security costs and essential living costs, such as food, transport and schooling. The net disposable income left is the discretionary element of an executive’s package for saving or spent on luxuries, travel, etc.

The graph suggests that living standards of SA executives, by implication, are double those of their peers in the UK and the Netherlands and a good deal better than those even in a rich country like Germany. SA executives make their Australian counterparts look poor.