Bad news for domestic workers in South Africa
Stats SA has published the latest results from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the third quarter of the year, showing a continued decline in the number of domestic workers with jobs in the country.
While the overall picture for jobs in South Africa is slightly better, with the unemployment rate declining from 33.9% in Q2 to 32.9% in Q3, the picture for domestic workers has darkened.
The stats body recorded a drop of 32,000 domestic workers in the country over the period, with a total of 826,000 domestic worker jobs in Q3.
This is down 3.7% from 858,000 domestic workers in Q2 and down 3.5% from the same quarter last year.
South Africa has historically had around 1 million domestic workers employed in the country, but this took a massive knock in 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Around 250,000 domestic workers lost their jobs in the quarter following the lockdown before recovering in subsequent quarters.
As with most job sectors, however, domestic workers have struggled to reach the levels seen pre-Covid, with around 180,000 jobs in the sector still lost.
The continued loss of domestic worker jobs in the country is reflective of the strain households – mainly middle-class households – are under in South Africa, as domestic help is often cited as one of the first expenses cut during times of financial pressure.
Domestic worker jobs are also being affected by other factors – including employers leaving the country.
Data published by SweepSouth in August 2022 showed the devastating impact of emigration and semigration on domestic workers.
A quarter of the respondents in the SweepSouth survey said they had lost their job in the last year. Of these workers, more than a quarter (28%) of domestic workers said they lost their job because their employer had moved: 33% of the employers moved to a different town or city in South Africa, while nearly half (48%) moved to another country.
This draws a line under data from various sources saying the same thing, like the Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor survey (OMSIM), which showed that more South African households are choosing to do without a domestic worker to save money each month.
Domestic workers’ wages are now at an hourly earning rate of 100% the National Minimum Wage. Assuming a domestic worker is working 160 hours a month (eight hours a day, 20 days a month), the monthly wage comes to R3,710 for the month.
However, SweepSouth’s salary survey found that the median earnings for domestic workers in South Africa is R2,929 per month for women and R2,797 for men.
Almost a third of households interviewed by Old Mutual for the study indicated that they would cut down on and move away from domestic help around the home. Historically, Old Mutual’s OMSIM has shown that domestic workers are often one of the first monthly household expenses to get cut when tough financial times hit.
Changes for domestic workers
Another factor that could be impacting domestic worker jobs in South Africa is moves by the government to formalise the sector and provide better protections for employees.
The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Bill is one of a number of new laws for South Africa awaiting the presidential signature.
Labour minister Thulas Nxesi introduced the bill to Parliament in September 2020 with the aim to recognise domestic workers as employees eligible for traditional formal workplace benefits.
Prior to the bill, domestic workers were excluded from occupational benefits such as monetary compensation for injuries or diseases that either occurred or were a result of labour.
Once the bill is signed into law, the Compensation Fund will accept claims from domestic employees who sustain workplace injuries under the new laws, and it will also accept claims from the dependents of domestic workers who pass away as a result of injuries sustained while performing their duties.
Employers of domestic workers and employees will also be required to make a contribution to the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
While these new laws are undoubtedly good for the domestic workers themselves, they also place a greater administrative burden on employers and have also left questions lingering about how the new laws will be implemented.
This includes questions about who constitutes the “main employer” when a domestic worker is working for multiple households and is thus responsible for UIF payments.
Read: New laws coming to South Africa – including changes for sectional titles and complexes and domestic workers