Minimum wage for domestic workers in South Africa
The National Minimum Wage Commission suggests increasing the National Minimum Wage for 2024 by more than inflation. This could see the rate for domestic workers jump to as much as R27.71 an hour.
In Dec 2023, the commission said it was exploring 3 ideas to increase the National Minimum Wage in 2024 for employment and labour:
- The majority recommendation for the NWM to increase by Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3%.
- The recommendation by the Business Constituency is only CPI; and
- The recommendation by an independent expert is CPI plus 0.75%.
Eight of the 12 commissioners proposed that the national minimum wage increase by CPI 3%.
The CPI is a measure of the change in prices as paid by consumers for goods and services over time. Economists project that CPI averaged around 6% for 2023, and they project CPI to be 4.5% for 2024.
In 2021, the Commission recommended increasing the national minimum wage from R20.76 to R21.69 per hour. They revised the 2022 national minimum wage from R21.69 to R23.19 per hour. They adjusted the minimum wage to R25.42 per hour in 2023.
If the Commission agrees, the minimum wage could go up by 9% in 2024, making it R27.71 per hour.
If we choose the lowest proposed hike (just CPI), the wage will still increase to R26.95 per hour.
A minimum wage is the lowest pay employers can legally pay their employees for each ordinary hour worked. For an employer to pay employees less than this minimum floor is illegal.
Full-time domestic workers must now be paid the same as the National Minimum Wage. This new requirement has been implemented by the Department of Labour.
Considering someone full-time requires employing them for more than 24 hours a month.
If you employ a domestic worker for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you should pay them at least R4,433.60 a month – this is an increase from R4,067.20 a month in 2022.
The Minister will announce the new rate in February 2024, and it will start on 1 March 2024.
Is this Good news or Bad news?
Pay increase for domestic workers is good for those with full-time jobs, but South African households face harsh reality.
South African households have experienced financial strain in recent years. Inflation, high interest rates, socio-economic issues resulting from Covid-19, and power outages have caused this strain.
As a result, many middle-class households can no longer afford to employ domestic workers. Thousands of domestic worker jobs have been lost since 2020.
New employment data from Stats SA indicates a small increase in the number of domestic workers in South Africa. At the end of September 2023, households and businesses employed 860,000 workers, which is 16,000 more than the previous quarter's 844,000.
But, even with more jobs, there are still 150,000 fewer domestic workers employed compared to before Covid-19.
Industry reports pointed to around 250,000 domestic workers losing their jobs during Covid. Only 100,000 of those jobs have been recovered as of the third quarter of the year.
Experts say the national minimum wage has not helped domestic workers in the country. A survey by Sweepsouth in 2023 found that domestic workers still earn much less than the minimum wage. Female domestic workers earn an average of R2,989 per month.
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