Worrying trend in domestic worker wages in South Africa
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data published by Stats SA shows that domestic worker wages in South Africa are tracking even further below core inflation in the country, indicating that household employees are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living in the country.
Headline CPI for November 2022 tracked at 7.4%, down marginally from 7.6% in October. Core inflation – excluding food and fuels – was higher at 5.0% for the month.
The basket of goods and services tracked by Stats SA to measure inflation changes from time to time, and November’s basket included domestic worker wages. Domestic worker wages are also tracked in March, June, and September.
Worryingly, domestic worker wage inflation was only 3.8% year on year. This rate is far below headline CPI and core CPI and shows that wages paid to domestic workers in the country are not keeping up with both headline and core inflation.
Wage inflation was tracked at 3.5% in June (versus headline CPI at 7.4%, core inflation at 4.4%), 2.9% in March (vs headline CPI at 5.9%, core inflation at 3.8%), and 3.8% in September (vs headline CPI at 7.5% and core inflation at 4.7%).
Domestic worker wages have consistently been falling short of core inflation by 0.9 percentage points in 2022, but this has now expanded to 1.2 percentage points as core inflation inches ever higher.
| Month | Headline inflation | Core inflation | Domestic worker wages | Headline difference | Core difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 | 7.4% | 5.0% | 3.8% | -3.6 pp | -1.2 pp |
| September 2022 | 7.5% | 4.7% | 3.8% | -3.7 pp | -0.9 pp |
| June 2022 | 7.4% | 4.4% | 3.5% | -3.9 pp | -0.9 pp |
| March 2022 | 5.9% | 3.8% | 2.9% | -3.0 pp | -0.9 pp |
Domestic workers are already low-earners in South Africa, with salary data from SweepSouth in August showing that the average worker takes home just R2,997 per month.
Wages for the sector were only recently brought in line with the national minimum wage in 2022.
From 1 March 2022, the National Minimum Wage for each ordinary hour worked increased from R21.69 to R23.19. For domestic workers, the increase in minimum wage was much larger, from a rate of R19.09 per hour – 88% of the national minimum wage in 2021.
Assuming a domestic worker works 160 hours a month (eight hours a day, 20 days a month), the monthly wage comes to R3,710 for the month.
Domestic worker jobs in danger
The latest quarterly labour force survey from Stats SA shows that domestic worker jobs in South Africa are also under continued pressure.
While the overall picture for jobs in South Africa is slightly better, with the unemployment rate declining from 33.9% in Q2 to 32.9% in Q3, the picture for domestic workers has darkened.
The stats body recorded a drop of 32,000 domestic workers in the country over the period, with a total of 826,000 domestic worker jobs in Q3.
This is down 3.7% from 858,000 domestic workers in Q2 and down 3.5% from the same quarter last year.
South Africa has historically had around 1 million domestic workers employed in the country, but this took a massive knock in 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Around 250,000 domestic workers lost their jobs in the quarter following the lockdown before recovering in subsequent quarters.
As with most job sectors, however, domestic workers have struggled to reach the levels seen pre-Covid, with around 180,000 jobs in the sector still lost.
Read: What government pays domestic workers, ‘special advisors’ and other support staff in South Africa
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