South African government salary levels explained
Government adverts don't negotiate salary the way private employers do — every post is pre-graded onto a fixed salary structure. Here's how to read the salary line you'll see on a government job listing.
Levels 1 to 16
Public service posts are graded on a salary level from 1 (lowest) to 16 (highest). Broadly:
- Levels 1-2 — general/elementary support posts (cleaning, general assistants).
- Levels 3-8 — skilled and semi-skilled posts: clerks, administrators, junior technical and professional staff.
- Levels 9-12 — middle and senior professional/management posts (assistant directors, deputy directors, specialists).
- Levels 13-16 — the Senior Management Service (SMS): directors, chief directors, deputy directors-general and directors-general.
Levels 1-12 salaries are set through collective bargaining at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC); the SMS bands (13-16) are determined separately and annually by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.
Why you won't find rand amounts here. Notch values change with each wage agreement, usually annually, so any figure printed on a guide page goes stale quickly — and a stale number is worse than none. The salary for a specific post is printed on the advert itself in the DPSA circular, and iSebenza shows it on each listing. Treat that, or the current PSCBC resolution, as the only reliable figure — third-party "salary guide" sites are frequently out of date.
What a "notch" is
Each salary level isn't a single number — it's a range made up of several notches. A new appointee typically starts at (or near) the bottom notch of the post's level and can progress one notch per year of satisfactory performance, up to the top notch of that level. Moving to a higher level generally requires promotion into a post graded at that level, not just notch progression.
What OSD means
OSD stands for Occupation-Specific Dispensation — a separate pay scale used for certain professions where government struggled to compete with the private sector: nurses and other health professionals, doctors, social workers, engineers, legally-qualified staff, and some others. OSD posts still map onto the level structure but follow their own notch progression and qualification-linked pay bands rather than the standard scale. If you're applying for a health-sector government job and the advert says "OSD applicable," that's why the salary line looks different from a general admin post at the same level.
Reading the salary line in an advert
A circular advert typically states the salary level (e.g. "Salary Level 7"), sometimes an indicative annual cost-to-employer range, and — where relevant — a note that OSD or a specific determination applies. The reference numbers and levels differ department to department, so always treat the figure in the specific advert as authoritative over any general guide, including this one.
Related
See what PERSAL is (the system that actually pays the salary) and how to apply for government jobs.