How much you should pay your domestic worker in 2026
South Africa’s minimum wage could change, which would mean a change in how much you should pay your domestic worker.
Changes to South Africa’s national minimum wage could have an impact on how much households should pay their domestic workers.
The National Minimum Wage Commission has recommended that the country’s national minimum pay be increased by CPI+1.5% in 2026.
Although this is still only a recommendation, should the Department of Employment and Labour implement it, it will mean the national minimum hourly rate will increase by around 5%.
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Currently, the national minimum wage is R28.79 per hour.
Around 5.5 million workers currently get paid the minimum wage in the country.
The potential 5% increase would see the National Minimum Wage increase to R30.23 in 2026.
According to Business Tech, the effective date for the wage rate increase will be 1 March 2026.
The final CPI adjustment will only be decided based on the CPI reading in the six weeks before the effective date.
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With the hourly rate projected to reach R30.23, someone working a standard 38-hour week would earn around R1,149, while a 45-hour week pushes that figure to roughly R1,360.
Over a typical month of 160 working hours, the minimum wage works out to about R4,840, which is R240 more than the 2025 level of R4,600.
For households employing domestic workers, this adjustment will require a bit of budget reshuffling to make sure salaries stay in line with the updated national requirements.
And there is another important rule to remember: South Africa's minimum wage laws require employers to pay at least four hours for any day worked, even if the employee works less than that.
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With the projected increase, the true daily minimum comes in at about R121, up from R115 this year.
These projections are still just estimates, with final numbers still to come.
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