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 hourly 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.
