The proposed new minimum wage of R3,500 a month will do little to improve the circumstances of existing workers‚ while further limiting access to the labour market for unemployed people. This is according to analysts at the Institute of Race Relations. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the national minimum wage proposal on Sunday at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). The proposal was presented by a panel of advisors appointed to advise Nedlac on the level at which the country’s national minimum wage should be set. The institute’s analysts said more than half of people in SA aged 20-30 were not in employment‚ education or training. They said for people of working age without a university education, the labour market absorption rate was below 50% — far off emerging-market norms.
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