National minimum wage increases next month
Domestic workers will now earn R15,57 per hour as of next month and farm workers R18.68 per hour
LABOUR Minister Thulas Nxesi has announced that the national minimum wage will increase to R20.76 per hour as of 1 March.
Domestic workers will now earn R15,57 per hour as of next month and farm workers R18.68 per hour.
For those employed on the expanded public works programme, the minimum wage has been set at R11,42 per hour.
The current minimum wage is R20 per hour, equivalent to R3 500 per month depending on the number of hours worked.
A phased-in approach is being applied for sectors such as farm workers, forestry workers, domestic workers, the welfare sector and care workers owing to their vulnerability to losing their jobs.
Nxesi last year said implementation would be intensified and compliance ensured.
He said 200 people will be added to the current team of inspectors to enforce implementation.
The minister said despite fears that the implementation of a national minimum wage would result in massive retrenchments, latest figures indicate otherwise.
‘Inspections to date indicate a high compliance rate with only 7% of employers failing to pay the prescribed rate.
‘An expected spike in Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) cases has not occurred,’ he said.
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