South Africa’s minimum hourly wage will increase by 9.6% to R25.42 from next month.
The increase outstrips the central bank’s inflation forecast of 5.4% for the year.
The announcement on Tuesday in the Government Gazette by labour minister Thulas Nxesi was made a day before finance minister Enoch Godongwana presents the nation’s budget in which projections for the state’s wage bill will be closely watched.
Under President Cyril Ramaphosa the country officially introduced a national minimum wage in January 2019 to protect workers from “unreasonably low wages”. While it is aimed at reducing the pay gap in one of the world’s most unequal societies, it’s unlikely to have an impact on the living standards of a large part of the population with 33% of people in the labour market unemployed.
The increase could threaten food and job security and further strain already hard-pressed producers, said the farm lobby group Agri SA.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Minimum hourly wage increased by 9.6% to R25.42
Image: Bloomberg
South Africa’s minimum hourly wage will increase by 9.6% to R25.42 from next month.
The increase outstrips the central bank’s inflation forecast of 5.4% for the year.
The announcement on Tuesday in the Government Gazette by labour minister Thulas Nxesi was made a day before finance minister Enoch Godongwana presents the nation’s budget in which projections for the state’s wage bill will be closely watched.
Under President Cyril Ramaphosa the country officially introduced a national minimum wage in January 2019 to protect workers from “unreasonably low wages”. While it is aimed at reducing the pay gap in one of the world’s most unequal societies, it’s unlikely to have an impact on the living standards of a large part of the population with 33% of people in the labour market unemployed.
The increase could threaten food and job security and further strain already hard-pressed producers, said the farm lobby group Agri SA.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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