Last week we argued, drawing on international experience, that the introduction of a national minimum wage in South Africa could play an extremely positive role in the country’s economic development, if combined with other economic instruments. At the level of the labour market, we clarified that the relationship of a statutory national minimum wage to collective bargaining was a complementary one: a national minimum wage would set a floor, and sectoral bargaining would negotiate wages, working conditions and other sectoral frameworks appropriate to the different sectors. But, by law, no one could earn below this national wage floor. This is how the national minimum wage operates in...
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