Minimum wage in South Africa 2026: R30.23 an hour

Who is paid R30.23, and the exceptions

The rate covers nearly every worker, counted per ordinary hour. Farm workers and domestic workers were brought up to the general rate in 2022 and stay there. The exclusions are narrow: members of the national armed forces (SANDF), the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service, and unpaid volunteers.

Two groups have their own amounts. Workers on the Expanded Public Works Program get R16.62 an hour, which is 54.98% of the main rate. Learners on a learnership receive the Schedule 2 allowances published on the Department of Employment and Labor's website, and the contract cleaning and wholesale and retail sectoral determinations set separate rates. We have not read those determinations, so check them if your hire works in either sector.

Other minimum wage rates in South Africa

South Africa minimum wage history

R30.23 an hour as a monthly salary

The law sets an hourly rate, so the monthly figure depends on ordinary hours. The formula is R30.23 x weekly hours x 52 / 12:

• 45 hours (the legal maximum of ordinary hours): R5,894.85 a month, R70,738.20 a year.
• 40 hours: R5,239.87 a month.

These figures cover ordinary hours only; overtime is extra. There is no statutory 13th-month payment; where one exists, it comes from the contract.

The 2026 increase and what comes next

The rate rose from R28.79 to R30.23 on March 1, 2026, an increase of 5.00%. The government announced it in early February 2026 (the SAnews statement is dated February 4, 2026). The minimum is normally reviewed by the National Minimum Wage Commission and adjusted each March 1, but no 2027 rate had been announced when we checked on October 18, 2026. We confirmed only the 2025 and 2026 rates on official pages, so the history table on this page starts at 2025.

What an employer pays on top of the minimum wage

South Africa has no large employer social security charge like the European systems. You pay 1% of remuneration to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), matched by 1% from the worker, on pay up to R17,712 a month. The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is another 1% of payroll, but only if you expect total payroll to exceed R500,000 over the next 12 months. COIDA workers' compensation is an employer-only assessment set by industry class.

For other salaries, the international employee cost calculator uses the same rules, and the employer cost index shows South Africa near the bottom of the countries we track at 1.3% on our sample salary.

How to pay South African staff without an entity

A foreign company hiring one or two people usually goes through an employer of record, which registers for UIF, SDL and COIDA and runs PAYE. List prices run from $99 (Native Teams, whose help center says EUR 99) to $699 (Oyster) a month per employee (EOR prices compared). Remote lists EOR from $599 a month and says startups pay no deposit or setup fee (checked October 16, 2026). For a minimum-wage role the EOR fee can be larger than the salary itself.

Termination rules are simple: notice is one week in the first six months, two weeks up to one year and four weeks after that, and a retrenchment needs at least one week's pay per completed year of service. See our South Africa EOR guide, our EOR rankings and the average South African salary. For regional comparisons, see Kenya's minimum wage and Nigeria's minimum wage.