Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth says protection of women in sectors such as domestic work, agriculture, hospitality, retail must remain a departmental priority.

“The National Minimum Wage remains a critical protection for sectors where women are concentrated, domestic work, agriculture, hospitality, retail, and its enforcement, not merely its existence, must remain a departmental priority.

“Our national unemployment rate stood at 33,6 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the highest in several years, with women and young people carrying the heaviest share of that burden. The cost of living continues to erode the value of every wage packet, and that pressure falls hardest on households headed by women," Meth said.

The Minister was speaking on Monday (31 August 2026) in the evening during the Women's Leadership Reception marking the closure of Women's Month. Under the theme - The Women's Leadership Reception: Connecting People. Inspiring Leaders. Transforming Generations – the gathering convened distinguished women leaders and emerging young leaders from government, academia, business, politics, civil society, and the international community for an intergenerational dialogue on women's participation in the labour market, employment creation, entrepreneurship, the future of work, and workplace protection.

She said a significant proportion of economically active women in South Africa work in the informal economy, largely outside the reach of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the Compensation Fund, and the protections the Department of Employment and Labour was built to deliver.

Explained the Minister that: “Bringing that economy into the fold of protection and support, rather than treating it as someone else's problem, has to be part of how we measure progress. The just energy transition, digitisation and the green economy will create the jobs of the next decade, and government's own procurement targets for women owned enterprises will only mean something if the pipeline of capable, financed women owned businesses exists to fill them".

She noted that the 26th Commission for Employment Equity Annual Report confirmed that the county's labour market remains hierarchical along race, gender and disability, hardening precisely at Senior and Top Management, where institutional power sits. She said Black women remain concentrated in the lower to middle levels of management and persons with disabilities make up only 1,3 per cent of the workforce overall.

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“South Africa does not have a shortage of talented women; we have a conversion problem, one that plays out in promotion, succession planning, mentorship, remuneration, procurement and, ultimately, ownership," she emphasised.

The event sought to foster meaningful dialogue, collaboration, mentorship, and pathways to opportunity for the next generation.

As the Minister is delivering the address the National Minimum Wage Commission recently invited public comments to decide the 2027 adjustment. The current National Minimum Wage is fixed at 30,23 per hour worked.

For media inquiries, please contact: Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour

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