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How minimum wage is strangling agricultural sector growth

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GUEST – Johan Wege - Chair of Agri SA's Centre of Excellence: Labour

Agri SA said the rapid national minimum wage increase is throttling South Africa’s agricultural sector growth. The organisation said it would be making a submission to Parliament that demonstrates the negative impact of the national minimum wage on the growth and sustainability of the agricultural sector. “Unless the increases of the minimum wage in the agricultural sector are aligned with inflation, there is a real risk of the agricultural sector contracting with devastating effects for employment in the sector.”

The agricultural sector has proven remarkably resilient despite facing numerous crises – including the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Agri SA warned that the pressure on the sector is beginning to show. The sector grew by 17.8% in 2020 but only 7.4% in 2021 and a marginal 0.9% in 2022. This slower pace of growth is reflected in the labour statistics recently released by Stats SA, which showed only a 0.8% quarter-on-quarter increase in employment in the agricultural secto
28 Aug 2023 4PM English South Africa Business News · Investing

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