For decades, the Labour Research Service (LRS) has contributed to policy and campaigns on a national minimum wage through research papers, education interventions, and engagements. In 1991, we published our first economic policy paper advocating for a national minimum wage to fight low pay in South Africa. We advocated for a national minimum wage policy as a legislative drive to protect vulnerable workers while pointing to the significant income gaps in the job market and great inequality.

Following the establishment of the national minimum wage in 2019, Trenton Elsley, Executive Director of the LRS was appointed Commissioner on the National Minimum Wage Commission, and is serving his second term from 2024.

The national minimum wage matters. It benefits about six million workers in low-paid and low-unionised sectors. We have a minimum wage where there was none before. But it is not a living wage. Through our research project with partners, we have a picture of a decent life in South Africa that can inform policy debates and provide ideas for unions negotiating issues of dignity and value of workers.