TimesLIVE reports that the minimum wage increase kept up with the prices of basic products in the past year, but South Africans in this bracket need to spend 35% of their income on a “survival basket”.

This is according to the Minimum Wage report collated by Picodi.com on how the minimum wage for full-time work changed in 67 countries in January 2024, and what portion of the income has to be spent on a basic basket of food necessary to live. SA employees on a minimum wage earn R4,353 net monthly, compared to R3,979 in January 2023. This ranks SA in 44th place of the ranking. A basket of basic food products necessary to live costs R1,503 as at the beginning of 2024 (6.07% more than 2023). The report found: “This amount represents 34.5% of the net minimum wage, while at the beginning of 2023 it was 35.6% of the minimum wage. This means the increase in the SA minimum wage kept up with the rising cost of food prices.” For the study, the team created a basic grocery basket consisting of eight groups of products, namely bread, milk, eggs, rice, cheese, meat, fruit and vegetables.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at BusinessLive

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