EXCLUSIVE: The national minimum wage has not caused a jobs bloodbath
Figures show that dire warnings of thousands of workers losing their jobs if the national minimum wage was pitched too high were exaggerated, though it may have put a damper on the hiring of new entrants to the labour market
31 October 2019 - 05:00
Ten months after its introduction, the national minimum wage (NMW) of R20 an hour has not caused a jobs bloodbath, nor have firms flooded the labour department looking for exemptions, but it may have discouraged the hiring of new entry-level workers.
According to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration, of the 19,500 claims it has received so far this year under the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Act and the NMW Act, only 1,823 (9%) relate to the NMW Act alone...
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