Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has announced a new national minimum wage (NMW) determination, which will go up from R25.42 to R27.58 for each hour worked.
This will see the wages of people working eight hours a day and five days a week increase to R4 412 from R4 067.
In a statement on Saturday, the Department of Employment and Labour said the new NMW will come into effect on March 1.
“The national minimum wage determination also includes the vulnerable sectors of farm workers and domestic workers, who, since 2022, have been aligned with the NMW rates.
Mute increase for EPWP workers
“However, the workers employed on an expanded public works programme are entitled to a minimum wage of R15.16 per hour, up from R13.97.
“Workers who have concluded learnership agreements contemplated in Section 17 of the Skills Development Act, 1998, are entitled to the allowances as determined in the latest government schedule,” the department said.
The schedule of learnerships and sectoral determinations of contract cleaning, wholesale and retail sector employees will be published on the department’s website, www.labour.gov.za
The act applies to all workers and their employers except members of the South African National Defence Force, the National Intelligence Agency, and the South African Secret Service.
Volunteers excluded
The act does not apply to a volunteer, who is a person who performs work for another person and who does not receive or is not entitled to receive any remuneration for his or her service.
The NMW is the minimum amount of pay that an employer is legally required to pay employees for work done.
The amount does not include payments of allowances (such as transport, tools, food, or accommodation), payments in kind (board or lodging), tips, bonuses, and gifts, among others.
The NMW, which first came into effect in 2019 at a minimum of R20 per hour, is the floor level below which no employee should be paid. Fines for breaking the law apply. – SAnews.gov.za
