The Minister of Employment and Labour has published Gazettes setting out the increases in the National Minimum Wage, various Sectoral Determinations as well as the “earnings threshold”.
These will be effective on 1 March 2021 and the table set out below summarises the situation that employers will face come 1 March 2021.
It is common knowledge that the business representatives made a minority submission to the National Minimum Wage Commission that most of these increases that are above CPI (3% at the time) would further damage the ailing economy and employment prospects.
In particular, the equalisation of farm workers to the general minimum wage with immediate effect from 1 March 2021 represents around a 16% increase and that of domestic workers an 18% increase.
These increases come at a difficult time for both employers and employees – the latter struggling to recover from the impact of C19 disruptions on earnings and employment prospects.
| Employment type | Previous rate | New rate | % increase | Impact |
| Earnings threshold | R205 433 pa | R211 596 pa | 3% (R6163) | BCEA Chapter 2 working arrangements and certain equal treatment provisions in the LRA |
| NMW General | R20.76 ph | R21.69 ph | 4.5% (93cph) | |
| NMW Farm Workers | R18.68 ph | R21.69 ph | 16% (R3.01) | |
| NMW Domestic Workers | R15.57 ph | R19.09 ph | 18% (R3.52) | |
| Sectoral determinations | 4.5% | Contract Cleaning, Wholesale and retail etc |