Millions of South African workers earning minimum wage struggle to afford basic food items as food prices rise at a faster rate than wages. The widening gap between minimum wage increases and food basket prices exposes the vulnerability of low-income households.
Millions of workers in South Africa earning minimum wage are struggling to afford basic food items, and the gap is widening. A comparison between the national minimum wage in December 2019 and December 2024 with the price of an average food basket over the same period reveals a stark reality. While the minimum wage increased by 38% during this five-year span, the cost of the food basket surged by 68%.
This data on average food basket prices comes from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD), an organization that has meticulously tracked the prices of 44 goods commonly purchased by women in low-income households for many years. The index focuses on foods that a typical woman in a low-income household would buy monthly. Women from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Mtubatuba, and Springbok collect this data directly from the shelves of 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries that cater to low-income customers. These are the very stores that the women in the study identify as their usual shopping destinations. Despite inflation in South Africa falling to its lowest level in four years in October 2022, food prices continue to climb. This seeming contradiction arises because inflation measures the change in the cost of goods, not their actual cost. Therefore, even if inflation slows down, prices still increase, just at a slower rate.PMBEJD has compared the costs of this food basket and the national minimum wage increase between December 2019 and December 2024. Over this five-year period, the basket increased in price by R2,183, while the minimum wage rose by approximately R1,200. The gap widened during the pandemic and has yet to fully recover. People on a tight budget are forced to prioritize their purchases. In addition to the 44 items that PMBEJD tracks, they also collect data on the items that women in low-income households prioritize and buy first to ensure their families are fed. The Outlier plotted the change in prices over five years for nine of these priority items in a chart. Notably, there are only two vegetables on the priority list: potatoes and onions. These staple foods are filling but often fall short of meeting a family's nutritional needs.
Minimum Wage Food Prices Inflation Poverty South Africa
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