Tthe University of Cape Town’s SARChI Chair in Creation of Decent Work and Sustainable Livelihood announced the latest living wage figures.

Our data collected from working individuals across South Africa between November 2023 and January 2024 establishes that workers require at least R15,000.00 per month if they are to live a decent life. This applies to those living in urban areas.

What is the living wage?

The living wage is one that is sufficient for a worker to provide themselves and their family with the basic necessities of life and save something for the future or to cover unforeseen emergency expenses.

This is different from the national minimum wage that employers are legally compelled to pay their workers but which rarely satisfies their fundamental needs. By contrast, employers are encouraged to offer a living wage voluntarily.

This is in keeping with The Constitution of South Africa, which affords its citizens the right to live with dignity. We also see a living wage as one means to afford those in our employ dignity, but, of course, it goes further. It is also about how we interact with employees, in practice and on paper in policies.

The basis for research

The research behind the amount is not based on typical methodologies for determining wages which involves worker output, performance or labour costs, but takes as its basis that each employee is a human being with fundamental basic needs.

Neither does its approach focus on external factors like inflation, housing shortages, natural disasters, government programmes or the CPI. Instead, we consider the subjective experience of individual workers. We ask individuals across South Africa to score their own ability to make choices in different areas of life which are important to them.

Those areas include measures such as quality of housing, employment, healthcare, physical and psychological wellbeing, and more.

The gathered information is then graphed against their reported net-income. A living wage is the amount from which onwards it becomes possible to realize the life domains which are valued.

In this way, it is possible to identify annual changes and emerging trends in their life conditions.

We use this data to determine a living wage that is both reasonable and humane.

Employer resistance

Unfortunately, some employers see even the minimum wage as a financial burden, let alone the costlier living wage. They argue it makes an ample workforce too expensive, resulting in higher unemployment, however, we disagree.

International living wage research shows that workers who can cope financially are more motivated, more productive and less prone to absenteeism.

This benefits their employers, who offset their costs through greater output to meet market demand. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that providing decent incomes increases unemployment.

From South Africa to Africa

Not all employers are hesitant, though. Responses to a recent LWSAN member survey indicates that its work may not be restricted to South Africa for long either.

It suggests that South African multinational organisations – and perhaps even companies based in other African nations – are eager to get their hands on living wage data for their region.

Unfortunately, data for the individual countries is scarce, so LWSAN has its work cut out for it.

The first step

However, it has already taken the first step by aligning with the WageIndicator Foundation in the Netherlands. That organisation publishes living wage data across the world accessible to anyone on their website. It includes living wage data on some 46 African nations, albeit using a different methodology.

In the meantime, South African employers have a new living wage standard against which to measure their own performance.