The Effect of Minimum Wages on the Employment and Earnings of South Africa's Domestic Service Workers

Tom Hertz ()

No 05-120, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: Minimum wages have been in place for South Africa's one million domestic service workers since November of 2002. Using data from seven waves of the Labour Force Survey, this paper documents that the real wages, average monthly earnings, and total earnings of all employed domestic workers have risen since the regulations came into effect, while hours of work per week and employment have fallen. Each of these outcomes can be linked econometrically to the arrival of the minimum wage regulations. The overall estimated elasticities suggest that the regulations should have reduced poverty somewhat for domestic workers, although this last conclusion is the least robust.

Keywords: minimum; wage; south africa; hertz; earnings; hours (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H3 I31 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-lab
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upj:weupjo:05-120

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