Data from relocation company CapRelo compares the average annual wage around the world, including the average salary of a software engineer.
The group looked at the average job salaries around the world by country and how they fared across a number of common fields, relying on self-reported salary information supplied by workers from each country.
One of the metrics compared by CapRelo was the average minimum wage salary paid around the globe.
It pointed out that several countries such as Norway and Sweden do not have federally mandated minimum wages, and instead rely on other processes such as union negotiations within each industry to set standards.
“In those cases we have listed a minimum wage as N/A,” CapRelo said. South Africa is also listed as n/a.
South Africa’s National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 came into effect on 1 January 2019, ensuring that every worker is entitled to a wage of at least R20 per hour.
On a minimum wage, South Africans can earn R42,000 ($3,000) annually, far below fellow Brics countries Brazil ($3,818), and China ($4,400), but ahead of Russia ($1,276).
Australia takes the top spot on this list, with an average minimum wage salary of $28,768, ahead of New Zealand ($25,521) and the UK ($21,813).
Software Engineer Salaries
With technology playing the prominent role it does in modern society, CapRelo also evaluated general software engineer salaries.
“Unsurprisingly, given the prominence of Silicon Valley to the American economy, this was the job with the highest salary in the United States of all the professions we evaluated in this study,” it said.
The $85,000 average salary for an American software engineer was the second highest in the world, trailing only Switzerland’s $94,567.
In South Africa, the average salary drops to $25,704 (R360,790), which is well below the global average of $40,690 (R571,139).
Many South Africans look abroad to further their careers, with the likes of Australia, Ireland, the US and the UK all being popular destinations.
It is important to note that while cost of living is not taken into account, software engineer salaries in these countries are on average significantly higher than they are in South Africa.