How much money people need to earn to live a ‘decent’ life in South Africa

Data from the PMBEJD Group and Living Wage South Africa Network show that the average South African should earn at least between R6,350 and R15,000 per month to live a “decent” life.

This range reflects what experts believe is income needed to cover essential household expenses and to maintain household functionality and dignity for a typical South African worker and their family.

Affordability, in its simplest form, is the ability to meet the cost of goods and services based on one’s income. All working people must stretch their income to cover their families’ basic needs.

A wage that supports a “decent” life is defined as one that can afford a worker and their family the fundamental necessities such as food, transport, housing, electricity, and other basic services.

The PMBEJD Group highlights the strain on households where a single breadwinner supports an average of 4 people, based on data from January 2025.

This means that many families, even with one member working, face significant challenges in covering their monthly expenses.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW), as adjusted by the government, remains insufficient to bridge the gap between basic living costs and income.

In March 2024, the Minister of Employment and Labour introduced an 8.5% increase in the National Minimum Wage, from R25.42 per hour to R27.58 per hour.

For a worker putting in an 8-hour day, this translates to about R220.64 daily and R4,633.44 monthly, assuming a 21-day work month.

While this increase is a step toward providing workers with better compensation, it falls far short of what is needed to sustain a decent standard of living.

As of February 2025, the current minimum wage leaves a worker about R2,000 short each month when considering the most basic household expenses, such as transportation, electricity, and food.

The data, based on their Basic Nutritional Food Basket for a family of four in major South African cities, shows that even after accounting for essentials, a person earning the minimum wage will struggle to meet the basic living costs.

The data reveals that a wage of R6,350 per month is minimum necessary for dignity and functionality. However, some experts view even this figure as insufficient.

The Living Wage South Africa (LWSA) Network chairperson, Ines Meyer, told BusinessTech that a living wage figure closer to R15,000 per month is required for a worker to truly live a decent life.

Meyer explained that the figure is based on people’s self-perceived quality of life – not the cost of items or economic conditions.

“UCT surveyed approximately 2,300 individuals across all nine provinces. On a variety of life domains, they indicate if it is currently possible for them to realise what they consider a good life,” she said.

“By plotting these against people’s self-reported income, it becomes visible from what income onwards people can realise what they consider a good life. This is considered the living wage.”

Essentially, the living wage is an income level that allows a worker to meet essential needs, save for future emergencies, and avoid financial vulnerability.

This living wage enables them to make meaningful choices in areas such as housing, healthcare, employment quality, and overall well-being.

Meyer emphasises that while the NMW is a legally required baseline employers must meet, it often does not fulfil workers’ real needs.

A living wage, on the other hand, is something that employers are encouraged to offer voluntarily.

She points out that providing workers with a living wage aligns with the South African Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to live with dignity.

Despite this, many employers argue that even meeting the minimum wage is financially burdensome and that offering a living wage would exacerbate unemployment by making labour costs prohibitively expensive.

Meyer disagrees, citing international research showing that financially stable workers are more productive, motivated, and less likely to take sick leave, ultimately benefiting employers.