(4 minutes read)
· According to the Agri SA Centre of Excellence Labour survey on the impact of the new national minimum wage in the agricultural sector, 549 out of the 577 surveyed farmers indicated that they will exceed their allocated budget of R1.7 billion for 2020, with a 24% increase in wage costs over turnover for 2021
· It was also revealed that 456 of the participants expect to retrench workers, which can cause a loss of 4384 jobs
· This works out to 9.6 workers, who are mostly seasonal or casual workers, per participant , run the risk of losing their jobs
According to the Agri SA Centre of Excellence Labour survey on the impact of the new national minimum wage in the agricultural sector 549 out of the 577 surveyed farmers indicated that they will exceed their allocated budget of R1.7 billion for 2020, with a 24% increase in wage costs over turnover for 2021. It was also revealed that 456 of the participants expect to retrench workers, which can cause a loss of 4384 jobs. This works out to 9.6 workers, who are mostly seasonal or casual workers, per participant , run the risk of losing their jobs. This can also lead to a large scale of mechanization to reduce worker numbers and shorten working hours.
The survey also revealed that less work will have a high price for workers, as the level of poverty, hopelessness and social decay will increase due to large scale unemployment and high levels of despair amongst unemployed youth. An average of four people per day asks for jobs on farms and this number is increasing after numerous people lost their employment in tourism and other segments
Agri SA is therefore calling on the government to free up the economy immediately by relaxing the strict procedural requirements in the Labor Relations, Basic Conditions of Employment and Employment Equity Acts, as well as the National Minimum Wage legislation, because the procedural requirements are too onerous.
