Johannesburg - With an expert panel currently taking stock of the intricacies of a national minimum wage, questions have been raised on where job creation programmes such as internships and Expanded Public Workers Programmes (EPW) fit into the broader picture.
EPW programmes are government driven initiatives which often create opportunities for young unemployed people to gain experience which would in turn help them find work. Those who participate often do various jobs such as cleaning public parks and street patrolling.
Researchers at the second day of the Wits Labour Law Conference posed questions on whether the government would be able to expand these programmes and pay higher stipends even though there were often fixed budgets in place.
“The stipend that is earned by those who are part of the programme is far less than the minimum amounts presented such as R3 500. And that is from a fixed budget of six months and if you were to include those job opportunities then would that affect the number of people that are exposed to those opportunities?” asked Fikile Mabena during discussions at the conference.
Gilard Isaacs, coordinator at Wits University’s National Minimum Wage Institute, which published a research paper looking at how a national minimum wage can be applied, said it was possible to include EPWs in the broader framework however at only 60 to 70% of the wage.
This percentage would also be the same for domestic workers, whose sector was different from others.
“We have to account for these low wage sectors, the public works programme’s stipend is at around R1 000 although it’s not always full time. We included that in our statistical modelling at 60 to 70% of the overall minimum wage. If your minimum wage is at R3 500 then your expanded public workers programme will be at around R2 300,” said Isaacs.
Discussions on a national minimum wage had deadlocked between labour, government, business and social representatives in May.
But a panel has since been appointed to find a workable model from researchers and various constituency representatives.
The panel's findings were expected to be finalised in October.
Labour Bureau