SA’s minimum wage is increasing on 1 March

On 1 March, South Africa’s minimum wage will see its first increase since being introduced in 2019.

Unions were outraged at a previous recommendation of 5% increases, pointing out that the minimum wages introduced in 2019 were agreed in 2017, and are now much eroded.

• The new national minimum wage will be set at R20.76 per hour
• This is an increase of 3.8% on the previous R20
• Annual consumer inflation was at 4% last month, up from the rate of 3.6% in November
• Unions sought an increase of at least 12.5% in the minimum wage this year

Here are the new minimum wages due to come into effect on 1 March 2020:

• For work not covered by a special determination: R20.76 per hour
• For domestic workers: R15.57 per hour
• For contract cleaning staff: between R20.83 and R22.84 per hour, depending on the geographic area
• For farm workers: R18.68 per hour.
• For workers in government’s expanded public works programme: R11.42 per hour