Minimum wage increase: Here’s how it will affect domestic workers

If you work as a domestic worker or a farm labourer in South Africa, you have a reason to smile because your minimum wage per hour will increase from R25.42 per hour to R27.58.raised to R27.58 from 1 March.

This increase includes workers employed in the Expanded Public Works Programme, one of the government’s key programmes aimed at providing poverty and income relief through temporary work for the unemployed, who will be entitled to a minimum wage of R15.16 per hour.

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‘MIDDLE-CLASS HOUSEHOLDS STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY’

According to BusinessTech, when calculated at 8 hours per day, the monthly wage for domestic workers (160 hours a month) should increase from around R4,100 to just over R4,400 – an increase of R300.

“The above-inflation increase in the minimum wage for domestic workers comes at a time when those who can employ them are struggling financially. Data from Eight20 showed that middle-class households have a credit-instalments-to-monthly-income ratio of 73%, while heavy-hitters (the wealthiest 5% of the population) carry a ratio of 61%,” said BusinessTech.

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MINIMUM WAGE AVERAGE FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS UNDER R3,000 PER MONTH

The news publication said that households in South Africa that are most likely to hire a domestic worker need more space in their budgets to take on more costs in 2024.

It said that despite the minimum wage, domestic services platform SweepSouth noted that the average domestic worker earns under R3,000 per month.

ALSO READ: National minimum wage increase: COSATU welcomes plan for 2022

AT LEAST ‘250,000 DOMESTIC WORKERS LOST JOBS DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN’

“Additionally, the group said that thousands of domestic worker jobs were lost in 2023 due to various reasons, such as economic troubles and increased levels of emigration,” BusinessTech reported.

It said the number of domestic worker jobs has dropped significantly, according to the quarterly employment data from Stats SA. The Department of Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Mxesi announced the minimum wage increase on Friday.

BusinessTech also noted that despite historically having 1 million domestic workers employed in the country, this figure took a hit after 250,000 domestic workers lost their jobs in the quarter following the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

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