Bargaining Benchmarks is a quarterly publication from the Labour Research Service that gives trade union negotiators the key indicators they need to enter wage bargaining informed and prepared.
The June issue covers the first quarter of 2026. Here is the quarter at a glance:
Wage settlements outpaced inflation. The median wage settlement across industries in the first quarter of 2026 was 6.0%, nearly double the 3.1% headline inflation recorded in March.
The prices workers cannot avoid are climbing faster. Administered prices, the costs set by government or producers rather than the market, peaked near 8.9%.
Inflation is not felt equally. In early 2024 the poorest tenth of households faced the highest inflation of any group. By March 2026, the poorest faced the lowest rate at 2.2%, while the wealthiest faced the highest at 3.3%. This does not mean the poorest are comfortable, but reflects shifts in the prices of the goods that dominate low-income budgets, food in particular.
The labour market is shedding jobs. The official unemployment rate rose to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026, up from 31.4% at the end of 2025. Most industries lost jobs over the quarter, with the heaviest losses in community and social services, construction and transport. Only agriculture, mining and manufacturing added jobs.
A food basket that swallows a minimum wage. The household food basket tracked by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group measures what a basic basket costs for a low-income household. The food basket cost R5 329 in March 2026, just R561 more than the national minimum wage for a 45-hour week. Put plainly, a minimum wage earner’s whole monthly income barely covers a basic food basket, before a cent goes to rent, transport, electricity or anything else.
Read the full publication: Bargaining Benchmarks | June 2026
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