NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE: INPUT SOUGHT ON LATEST REPORT WITH RECOMMENDATIONS

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE: INPUT SOUGHT ON LATEST REPORT WITH RECOMMENDATIONS

• 11 December 2025
• Labour Law
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Employment & Labour has gazetted a report on the latest annual national minimum wage investigation, along with a notice calling for input by 12 January 2026. This is noting that, for 2026, the report recommends an upward adjustment to the prevailing minimum wage – calculated according to the consumer price index plus 1,5%.

The recommended adjustment was informed by stakeholder input received during the investigation, which began in August 2025. Since 1 March 2025, the minimum hourly rate has been R28,79 for every ordinary hour worked (also applicable to farm and domestic employees), while:

• expanded public works programme participants should have been paid at least R15,83 per hour
• minimum learnership allowance adjustment calculations should have been informed by National Qualification Framework levels
• minimum hourly rate calculations for contract cleaning sector employees should have differentiated between KwaZulu-Natal and the remainder of South Africa, and
• minimum wages calculations for wholesale and retail sector employees should have taken account of workplace location and job category.

Presumably, the same will apply when the new national minimum wage is announced in anticipation of its commencment on 1 March 2026.

• Government Gazette notice with investigation report and recommended adjustment

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)

If you use this information in articles, reports and social media posts of your own, please acknowledge SA Legal Academy Policy Watch as your source

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT