Participants in one of government’s most successful work programmes will get a pre-Christmas inflation-related increase.
The minimum wage for all Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants increased from R83.59 to R88.00 per day or per task, with effect from 1 November.
The Department of Public Works’ deputy-director general for the EPWP, Stanley Henderson announced.
The wage increase is in line with the current inflation rate.
“The EPWP continues to play a significant role in uplifting the lives of EPWP participants and communities through the creation of work opportunities and providing much-needed services under the EPWP sectors."
The sectors include infrastructure, non-state, environment, culture and the social.
“The wage increase will significantly boost the socio-economic conditions of the EPWP participants, and I urge all the implementing bodies of the EPWP to timeously adhere to the implementation of the approved prescribed minimum wage increase as of 1 November 2017,” said Henderson.
The implementation of the adjusted minimum wage applies to all the participants of the EPWP across all sectors. However, many public bodies implementing the EPWP projects pay wages that are much higher than the prescribed minimum wage, which is a significant move towards achieving better socio-economic status of the participants and communities.
The EPWP is a government initiative aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment by providing training and short to medium-term labour intensive work opportunities to poor and unemployed South Africans.
Participants work in different projects such as early childhood development centres, home community-based care, extra school support programmes, Working on Fire, Working for Water and road maintenance projects.
The skills participants gain and the training they receive gives them a better chance to enter the formal job market or become entrepreneurs.
Email
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp