14% pay hike for domestic workers in South Africa

Domestic worker platform Sweepsouth has published its latest report on the working conditions and earnings of domestic workers in South Africa, showing that many are struggling to meet the monthly National Minimum Wage (NMW) despite a 14% increase from 2023.

The report’s findings are based on a survey of over 5,600 active domestic workers in South Africa. 92% of the survey respondents were women, the majority aged 26-41.

The survey showed that domestic workers in the country still earn, on average, much lower than the monthly NMW, with female domestic workers at R3,349 per month and male domestic workers at R3,059.

This is up from R2,989 and R2,812, respectively, in 2023—representing a 14% and 8.8% increase.

These increases are significantly higher than inflation (~5%) and far higher than marginal increases received in 2023 from 2022 (which were up 1.7% and 0.5%, respectively).

However, despite the sizeable increases in pay, the average still comes in lower than the National Minimum Wage.

From February 2024, the NMW was hiked by 8.5% to R27.58 per hour.

When calculated at 8 hours per day, the monthly wage for domestic workers (160 hours a month) should have increased from around R4,100 to just over R4,400 – an increase of R300.

Median earnings data from Stats SA shows that domestic workers have the lowest median salaries in the country, coming in at around R2,350 a month. This is less than half the national median of R5,417 a month.

According to Sweepsouth, the average in its survey is fairly representative of domestic workers who are employed full-time for one household and domestic workers who work part-time for multiple clients.

Domestic workers employed full-time are closer to the NMW, averaging R3,702 per month, but still fall short by about R700.

Part-time workers earn less than the average at R3,250 per month, falling short of the NMW by R1,150.

However, when breaking down the data on a per-hour basis, Sweepsouth found that, on average, domestic workers are being paid higher than the NMW, with men earning R34.24 per hour and women R33.35.

The rub, however, is that only around half of domestic workers are earning this, with the other half earning below NMW.

Sweepsouth noted that domestic workers also earn differently depending on their primary roles, and how many primary roles they adopt.

• Cleaning: R3,349 per month
• Gardening: R3,128 per month
• Childcare: R3,464 per month
• Elderly care: R3,324 per month
• Cooking: R3,463 per month

“Most domestic workers have a single primary role. Similar to our 2023 report, additional primary roles increase earnings, but in contrast, this seems to level off after two primary roles rather than increase with each additional primary role,” Sweepsouth said.

“Childcare and cooking are the most lucrative roles, while gardening earns the lowest. This is consistent with male respondents reporting lower earnings. Earnings in the Western Cape and Gauteng are higher than other provinces.”

The wage disparity for domestic workers vs the NMW raises significant affordability and cost of living concerns.

According to Sweepsouth, 83% of domestic workers are the breadwinners of their families, which averages around 4 dependents.

While the average salary has increased 14%, the group found that costs have increased by 15% overall from 2023 to 2024, with the majority of categories showing a considerable increase. This means that, even with an above-inflation hike, wages have not kept up with costs.

“Expenditure on housing has increased by 17% since last year’s report, while transport and electricity have increased by 10% and 8%, respectively.

“These increases in the expenses of domestic workers will put further pressure on their budgets, eating into their disposable income and affecting their ability to save, pay off debt, or invest in their future and education.”

Given these costs, versus median income, domestic workers are still left with a monthly deficit of around R800 per month to meet their needs.

Read: Why domestic workers should be paid at least R40 an hour in South Africa