Careers in agriculture have the potential to grow

Some 77% of people working in this sector received increases in the last 12 months, with an increase of 8% on average. The specialist recruitment portal's survey results effectively benchmark salary levels across a myriad industries and reveal a checklist of career related information available from http://www.careers24.com.

Says Geoff Cohen, Careers24.com GM, says, “Within the South African agriculture industry, it appears you reap what you sow, with employees who spent the extra time studying earning an average monthly salary of R18 600. Results show an education to be important within this sector with 31% of the participants in possession of a technikon degree or diploma, followed by post graduates at 24%, and 21% having passed matric.”

Job satisfaction in the industry is high - 58% confirmed that they were content with what they do and only 14% are bored. A career in agriculture also shows a steady growth in salary, 20-year-olds earn an average of R10 800. This figure increases to R19 350 for the average 30 year old, 40-year-olds can expect a salary of R23 600 and 50-year-olds can see their salary increase to R29 140 on average. 3% of the participants noted a salary in excess of R50 000.

Cohen continues: “Information areas covered in the Careers24.com Salary Survey included participant's position, what their salary package includes, work experience and recent salary increases. The results explore industry trends in salary packages, gender issues and salary weighting by region. In total 19 249 responses were received, which makes this one of the biggest independent online recruitment surveys in South Africa, if not the largest.”

Careers24.com intends to make this an annual survey which will become the benchmark for salary levels and which will be a ready reference for both employer and employee.

While there are a number of salary surveys in existence, they are all industry specific. Careers24.com conducted the first overarching survey for all industries, professions and jobs.

The survey invited South Africans working in all industries to log on to the Careers24.com site and confidentially enter their salary details online. The results from 2.4% of the participants reflect that they are employed in the agriculture industry. The following information was also revealed about employees within the sector

Education level:
• 2% some school
• 21% matric
• 16% university graduates
• 24% post graduates
• 31% technikon degree/diplomas
• 7% other qualifications

Monthly income:
• 12% - R1 000 – R6 000
• 31% - R6 001 – R12 000
• 19% - R12 001 – R18 000
• 15% - R18 001 – R24 000
• 9% - R24 001 – R30 000
• 11% - R30 001 – R50 000
• 3% - R50 001 +

Competitiveness of remuneration:
• 9% above average
• 39% market related
• 52% below average

Average salary by age:
• 20's - R10 800
• 30's - R19 350
• 40's - R23 605
• 50's - R29 144

Averages:
• The average age is 36
• Average salary: R18 574
• Average percentage of salary for bonus received: 69%
• Received salary increase in the past 12 months: 77%
• Average of increase: 8%

Contentment level:
• Percentage of people feeling bored: 14%
• Percentage of people feeling stressed: 28%
• Percentage of people feeling content: 58%

The results are reflective of respondents who answered the survey and not of all working South Africans. The following guidelines will contextualise the results:
• 12% of working South Africans have access to the internet. The average income of working South Africans who have access to the internet is almost four times that of workers who do not access the Internet.
• 89% of internet users are in LSM 7-10 and 86% live in urban areas.
• The Careers24.com Salary Survey 2007 therefore draws its sample from the top income earners who are predominantly urban LSM 7-10s and are technologically competent i.e. the crème de la crème of our working population.

Sample details:
• The study was skewed towards people who had internet access due to its methodology
• A good national spread was obtained, with some over-representation of Gauteng (57%) and under-representation of Eastern Cape (3%) and KwaZulu Natal (7%).
• There were few under 24s in comparison to the overall Internet user profile due to the nature of study. Ages 24-34 were the most well covered making up a total of 31% of participants.
• 54% of the participants were male. This is a good male/female split as was the work level representation.
• The majority of the sample were full time permanent workers (89%).
• Workers in the Information technology/telecommunications and finance fields were the most eager respondents.
• Chemicals, mining, gas/water, education, manufacturing and transport seem to have older employees whilst advertising/media, hospitality/travel and IT/ telecomms have the youngest.

For more information, please visit www.careers24.com.