Table 5. Monthly income in rand, rounded to the nearest R500 (U.S. dollars at R12/$1)^a.

	Gross Income		Take-home pay
	Mean R US$	Median R US$	Mean R US$	Median R US$
RN Specialtyb (n = 5)	R33,600 $2,800	R33,000 $2,700	R22,000 $1,800	R22,000 $1,800
RN General (n = 19)	R19,300 $1,600	R18,500 $1,500	R13,000 $1,000	R12,000 $1,000
SN (n = 24)	R11,500 $950	R11,400 $950	R9,000 $750	R9,000 $750
ENA (n = 23)	R9,000 $750	R9,000 $750	R7,500 $625	R7,700 $642
Total	R13,700 $1,140	R11,000 $900	R10,000 $800	R9,000 $750

^a Gross pay, net pay, and deductions were self-reported in interviews; several participants had paystubs with them. The figures were evaluated for internal consistency against documentation detailing the pay levels for nurses, and against monthly spending diaries completed by a subset of nurses [38].

^b RNs are divided into generalists and specialists because the pay varies considerably between the groups [38]. However, some nurses with specialty training are in generalist positions, and some with specialties were among the most indebted, therefore the RNs are grouped together elsewhere in the paper.