By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) supports the proposed increases to South Africa’s national minimum wage, which is expected to take effect from 1 March 2022.
The country’s largest trade federation says that the increase would benefit approximately six million workers – particularly in the farming, construction and hospitality sectors.
Notably, some 900,000 domestic workers are set to benefit from an increase should the government decide to equalise the minimum wage this year, Cosatu said.
This follows the recent proposals published by the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission which recommend that domestic worker salaries be increased to 100% of the National Minimum Wage.
Under the Act, the minimum wage for domestic workers was initially set at 75% of the National Minimum Wage in 2020. The Commission proposed increasing it to 88% of the national minimum wage in 2021 and 100% in 2022.
“As a result, the minimum wage for domestic workers in 2021 came to R19.09 per hour. The equalisation of the domestic sector was proposed in 2020 by the commission; wherein there was a minority report proposing a phased-in approach.
“In line with its earlier proposal, the commission recommends that the minimum wage of domestic workers be increased to the national minimum wage in 2022,” it said.
This would bring the minimum wage for domestic workers to R23 per hour – a 20% increase from R19.09 in 2021 – or approximately R3,700 a typical work month (20 days, 8 hours a day).
The number of domestic workers in the country is currently sitting at around 900,000, after dropping to around 745,000 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, data from Statistics South Africa shows.
This annual increase of 147,000 domestic worker jobs was more significant than almost any other segment in 2021, surpassing technicians (106,000), craft and related trades (78,000), plant and machine operators (25,000) and sales and services (20,000) occupations.
Analysts at e-commerce company Picodi.com have compared minimum wage rates for 64 countries, including South Africa, and analysed whether the minimum rates are enough to ensure a minimum standard of living in a given country.
The study covered countries with a government-set minimum wage—a total of 64 countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Picodi compared the monthly minimum wage for full-time work in January 2022 with wages from January 2021. These rates come from official government websites, relevant ministries or committees.
These countries differ in the tax rate: in several countries, a person earning the minimum national wage is exempt from income tax and contributions (Hong Kong, Philippines, Nigeria), while in other countries the difference between gross and net income may be up to several dozen percent, the report’s authors said.
South Africa places in the middle of the ranking at 36th. The current national minimum wage is R21.69 per hour, and the labour department has called for comment on a new minimum wage target for South Africa in 2022, at around R23 per hour. Depending on the number of hours (8-9) worked each day, a minimum hourly wage could attract between R3,400 and R3,900 per month.
Picodi puts the number at R3,555 per month, which it says will rise by 4.7% in 2022 to R3,722 net.