Domestic worker jobs in South Africa are in serious trouble

Domestic worker jobs took a significant hit in the first quarter of 2025, with the latest employment data from Stats SA showing a drop of 43,000 jobs in the last three months.

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of the year indicated that South Africa now employs just 815,000 domestic workers.

Between December 2024 and March 2025, the sector saw a 5% decline in jobs, losing 43,000 positions quarter-on-quarter.

Compared to March 2024, the loss was even more pronounced, with a loss of 51,000 jobs, or a 5.8% decline.

This drop accounted for the bulk of the decline seen in the private households industry, where 100,000 jobs were lost year-on-year and 68,000 jobs were shed over the quarter.

While certainly very pronounced in the sector, the loss of domestic worker jobs was not unique in the quarter, with Stats SA reporting a 1.7% decline in overall employment figures between quarters.

The first quarter of the year saw a drop of 291,000 employed people to 16.8 million from 17.1 million in Q4 2024.

Meanwhile there was an increase of 237,000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8.2 million, Stats SA said.

This resulted in a decrease of 54,000 (down by 0.2%) in the labour force during the same period.

As a result, the unemployment rate increased by 1.0 percentage point to 32.9% for the first quarter—a worse result than many economists expected.

Despite this, economists at Nedbank said that the overall employment picture in South Africa appears stable amid easing structural constraints, with the latest data reflecting seasonal trends.

“The overall drag in employment reflected weaker demand, which caused excess capacity in companies and due to seasonal effects,” it said.

“Usually, Q4 tends to record a rise in temporary employment during the festive season.”

The first quarter of the year also sees a host of fresh matriculants and graduates enter the workforce, not all of whom are absorbed.

However, the bank warned that the outlook remains murky, as corporate profitability is likely to decline in 2025, discouraging companies from expanding their operations in the near term.

The anticipated deterioration in economic conditions is also a concern, particularly for private households.

Domestic workers under continued pressure

The latest employment data further cements the fact that the jobs landscape for domestic workers in South Africa has permanently shifted.

The sector is one of the only occupations in the country to never recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tracking employment data from 2014 through to Q1 2025, it’s clear that there has been a permanent loss in domestic worker jobs of around 20%.

Pre-Covid-19, the country employed around 1 million domestic workers.

Following the pandemic landing in South Africa and the government locking down the country, about a quarter of these positions (250,000 jobs) were immediately lost.

After the pandemic ended, about 150,000 domestic worker jobs bounced back, but the sector has struggled to get back to is pre-Covid numbers.

Unfortunately, the sector is highly dependent on private households, many of which also never managed to recover fully from the pandemic and subsequent economic shocks that followed.

Household finance surveys show that domestic help is one of the first things cut from the budget when money is tight—and money has definitely been tight over the past few years.

Private households remain under pressure from high interest rates, high living costs exacerbated by increased electricity tariffs and fuel prices, as well as low salary growth, which has not kept up with inflation.

Domestic workers experience a double shock in this regard, hit by the same high cost of living, with low job prospects as a result of the same hitting their employers.

Some unions and worker groups have expressed concern that other obligations on employers is also keeping domestic worker jobs under pressure.

These include things like the National Minimum Wage growing at rates far above inflation, as well as administrative obligations like UIF and the Compensation Fund and recent calls for pension rights.

While these are all positives for domestic workers as an occupation, households, already under financial pressure, may view it as an added burden and opt to do the housework themselves.

Unions have suggested that the government protect vulnerable domestic worker jobs by considering wage subsidies or even tax incentives for households to employ them.