SA domestic workers among worst hit by debt and underemployment, survey shows

• "Underemployment" among domestic workers has peaked during the lockdown, a survey shows.
• Eighty percent of respondents have reported working fewer than eight hours per day, with 74% earning less than R2 500 per month.
• The survey highlights the dire financial straits that most domestic workers find themselves in as a consequence of Covid-19 and related lockdowns.

A survey by home cleaning company SweepSouth on pay and working conditions for domestic work in South Africa shows that "underemployment" among domestic workers has peaked during the lockdown.

Eighty percent of respondents reported working fewer than eight hours a day, with 74% earning less than R2 500 a month - up significantly from the pre-lockdown figure of 37%. The report attributes this to reduced spending by middle-class households, which offered fewer hours or work opportunities to domestic workers. 

Increasing job losses and the overall negative impact of the lockdown on the economy has seen South Africa's expanded unemployment rate accelerate to 42% for the second quarter of 2020.

"Sadly, these statistics are unsurprising, given the economic downturn with which South Africa is grappling. Although these figures represent unemployment in the formal sector, they signal decreasing disposable income among economically active South Africans, which will undoubtedly have a detrimental knock-on effect in the informal sector," says SweepSouth co-founder and CEO Aisha Pandor.

In her view, the annual survey has highlighted the dire financial straits that the majority of domestic workers have found themselves in as a consequence of Covid-19 and related lockdowns.

"Many domestic workers are the sole providers for their families. The increase in the unemployment rate in the formal sectors will quickly filter down and push more vulnerable South African residents into poverty," cautions Pandor.

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The reported drop in earnings by domestic workers is likely to have a domino effect in respect of pre-existing debt among South Africans too because an increasing number of households are forced to reduce spending while facing mounting debt.

SweepSouth's report indicates that low-income households are forced to take on further debt when they cannot reduce spending any further.

It concludes that 70% of domestic workers surveyed are in debt.

Almost all of the respondents (90%) also said they were the family's primary breadwinners, while 73% said they were single parents.