The Debate of Decent Work in Emerging Economies: Minimum Wage Policy in South Africa.

Abstract: There exists considerable debate on the utility of ILO’s decent work agenda and its four pillars of full employment, rights at work, social dialogue, and social protection in the context of emerging economies. Whether these pillars be achieved in unison or if there a need to prioritize a pillar over another and whether the notion as a whole is complementary with other development objectives like economic growth is dependant on how an emerging economy understand the issue at hand, which is itself a function of the historical and socioeconomic context in which the labor markets exists within. This thesis looks at the case of South Africa, a country entrenched in high levels of unemployment and burgeoning income inequality, with many continuing to live in poverty post-apartheid. Utilizing Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) qualitative approach, this study analyses how the National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA) represents South Africa’s priorities in achieving decent work and how it reflects the debate at large. To reflect its multidimensional nature, this thesis also includes quantitative evidence to explore how the framing of problems impacts the labor market in real terms. The problem representation reflects an institutional approach, prioritising rights at work with an underlying assumption that it will not only empower the low wage working population, but population at large through consumption-based growth. Decent work is thus viewed as complementary to economic development. Heavily supported by prominent trade unions and the experience of minimum wages in other emerging economies, low wages were portrayed as the result of unfair and uneven capacities in previous wage setting mechanisms, argued to be an unfulfilled constitutional obligation on the part of employers in general. Naturally, this problem representation does not problematise other means of prioritising decent work in South Africa, particularly those from neoclassical economics. In quantitative terms, the national minimum wage act has not had the impact on the labor market as it was hoped it would. Employment levels remained stable, average wages and hours worked remained relatively unchanged, indicating that wage violation and use of the exemption system provided by the act has meant that not much has changed in the South African labor market for better or worse.