Hiring globally? Discover key employment law changes across 20+ countries happening in 2025 to ensure your team remains compliant.
Download the GuideThinking of employing someone in South Africa? As with every other country, certain costs are associated with employing a worker that come on top of the gross salary that you are offering. For South Africa, those include 1% to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, 1% to the Skills Development Levy and a contribution based on a predetermined tariff to the Compensation for Occupational Diseases.
In South Africa, employees pay a number of taxes, which are deducted from their gross salary by their employers. The amount of income tax that the employee contributes depends on the amount of income that they earn and on their personal circumstances. All employees contribute 1% to Unemployment Insurance Fund. There are several tax credits and reliefs that may offset employees’ tax liabilities.
Use our interactive employment cost calculator to see the total salary costs in South Africa outlined in the sections above. You can also get a detailed employee cost breakdown in pdf (like this one but with actual data), which will show the take-home pay that employees will get.
Looking for similar employment cost breakdowns for other countries? We have 28+ similar employee cost calculators.
Master the complexities of global employment and ensure a seamless employment experience for your team.
Talk to us