{"id":834138,"date":"2025-08-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=834138"},"modified":"2025-08-08T16:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:18:11","slug":"what-you-need-to-earn-to-live-a-decent-life-in-south-africa-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/834138\/what-you-need-to-earn-to-live-a-decent-life-in-south-africa-3\/","title":{"rendered":"What you need to earn to live a ‘decent’ life in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data from the PMBEJD Group and the Living Wage South Africa Network (LWSA) shows that a person needs to earn between R6,778 and R15,000 per month to live a \u2018decent\u2019 life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the amount needed for a worker to maintain dignity, functionality, and stability in their household on a monthly basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This range is what is required to cover the basic necessities of life, such as food, electricity, transport, and other essential services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, affordability refers to the ability to pay the cost of goods and services based on one\u2019s income. For most working South Africans, this means stretching every rand to meet their families’ needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMBEJD data from July 2025 highlighted that the typical breadwinner in South Africa supports four people. This puts significant pressure on households, particularly where there is only one source of income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when someone works full-time, the reality is that basic monthly expenses far exceed what they take home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced to set a baseline for worker pay, but it still falls short of covering the actual cost of living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2025, the Minister of Employment and Labour announced a 4.4% increase in the minimum wage, from R27.58 per hour to R28.79 per hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For someone working eight hours a day, this equates to around R230.32 daily and R5,297.36 monthly, assuming a 23-day work month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the NMW annual adjustment is meant to improve earnings, as of July 2025, it still leaves workers roughly R1,500 short of even the most conservative estimates for basic living expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to PMBEJD\u2019s calculations<\/a>, which are based on the cost of a Basic Nutritional Food Basket for a family of four in major cities, a minimum wage earner will still struggle to cover essentials like food, electricity, and transport.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe National Minimum Wage is a poverty wage. It hurts workers, reduces workplace productivity, and slows economic growth,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Importance of a living wage <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In July 2025, the maximum monthly wage of R5,297.36 worked out to R1,324.34 per person in a four-member household, which is well below the upper-bound poverty line of R1,634 per person per month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMBEJD argues that small annual increases based on such a low starting point, especially when they do not keep up with inflation or anticipate future cost increases, mean that workers are getting poorer each year and not better off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group believes that the minimum for basic dignity and household functionality is R6,778 per month. However, some experts view even this figure as insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Living Wage South Africa Network argues<\/a> that the real figure needed for a truly decent life is between R12,000 and R15,000 a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This estimate is not based solely on the cost of goods, but on how people themselves define and experience a good quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LWSA network explained that research conducted by the University of Cape Town surveyed about 2,300 people across all nine provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants were asked about different aspects of life, such as housing, healthcare, and job quality, and whether they felt able to achieve what they considered a \u201cgood life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By mapping this feedback against people\u2019s reported incomes, researchers could see the income level at which people begin to feel they have reached that standard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network noted that this is the true \u201cliving wage\u201d, which covers essentials and allows people to save for emergencies, avoid financial vulnerability, and make meaningful life choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the minimum wage is legally binding, the LWSA network stressed that it does not meet workers\u2019 real needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, employers can choose to pay a living wage to help their staff live with dignity, in accordance with South Africa\u2019s constitutional values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many employers resist this idea, arguing that higher wages would increase business costs and worsen unemployment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she points to international research showing that when workers are financially secure, they are more productive, motivated, and less likely to take sick leave, benefits that ultimately help employers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LWSA Network has also highlighted that while South Africa meets the International Labour Organisation\u2019s (ILO) 1928 convention on minimum wage fixing, the ILO\u2019s constitutional preamble from 1919 goes further, stating that work must provide at least an adequate living wage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that wages should not just meet a legal minimum but should allow workers to live decently. In practice, however, minimum and living wages have become two very different concepts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many low-income workers, even when earning slightly above the NMW, are still trapped in poverty because their earnings only cover survival, not stability or growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from the PMBEJD Group and the Living Wage South Africa Network (LWSA) shows what a person needs to earn per month to live a \u2018decent\u2019 life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":834152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[20373,19982,853],"class_list":["post-834138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-living-wage-south-africa-network","tag-pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-dignity-group-pmbejd","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":834153,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834138\/revisions\/834153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}