What is the national minimum wage in South Africa?

GET /v1/minimum-wage returns the current hourly rate with its effective date and gazette citation. It is reviewed annually, and the endpoint reflects the increase from the day it takes effect.

Are farm and domestic workers on a different minimum?

The NMW now covers them, and the endpoint carries the special categories (including EPWP, which sits lower) explicitly rather than collapsing them into one figure.

How do I check whether a wage is compliant?

POST /v1/answers/wage-check with the wage and hours. It returns a compliant or non-compliant verdict, the floor that applies to that worker type, and the shortfall per hour where there is one.

What about sectors with their own determination?

Some sectors (contract cleaning, private security and others) carry sectoral determinations that sit above the NMW. Those are a separate series so a compliance check does not silently apply the wrong floor.

zaref / docs / minimum-wage-api

South African minimum wage API

The national minimum wage per hour with its special categories, the sectors that carry their own determinations beside the NMW, the minimum weekly learnership allowances by NQF level, and the BCEA earnings threshold, all as cited JSON tied to the gazette that set them.

POST /v1/answers/wage-check turns that into a verdict: give it a wage and it returns compliant or not, the applicable floor (standard, farm, domestic or EPWP), the shortfall per hour, and the citation. That is the shape a compliance workflow actually needs, rather than a table to interpret.

Series

GET /v1/minimum-wage

National minimum wage per hour, incl. special categories, with effective date.

$0.005 per call · updates: annual (March) · effective 2026-03-01 · history at /v1/minimum-wage/history ($0.01)

GET /v1/sectoral-wages

Minimum wages for sectors with their own determinations (contract cleaning, private security, etc.) beside the NMW.

$0.005 per call · updates: annual (March) · effective 2026-03-01 · history at /v1/sectoral-wages/history ($0.01)

GET /v1/learnership-allowances

Minimum weekly learnership allowances per NQF level, per the current NMW gazette.

$0.005 per call · updates: annual (March) · effective 2026-03-01 · history at /v1/learnership-allowances/history ($0.01)

GET /v1/bcea-thresholds

The BCEA earnings threshold, which working-time protections fall away above it, the earnings definition and related LRA/EEA effects.

$0.005 per call · updates: annual (March/April gazette) · effective 2026-05-01 · history at /v1/bcea-thresholds/history ($0.01)

Calculators

GET /calc/learnership

Minimum weekly learnership allowance by NQF level and credits.

Parameters: nqf, credits

$0.01 per call · example: /calc/learnership?nqf=4&credits=200

Task-shaped answers

One call returns the whole answer, composed from the same audited tables as the series and calculators above, with every source cited. Cheaper than fetching the tables and doing the arithmetic yourself, and there is nothing to keep in sync.

POST /v1/answers/wage-check

National minimum wage compliance verdict for a wage: compliant or not, the applicable floor (standard, farm, domestic or EPWP) and the shortfall per hour, with the gazette citation.

$0.05 per call · JSON body, e.g. {"monthly_wage":6000,"hours_per_week":45,"worker_type":"domestic"}

How agents pay

No account, no API key. Paid endpoints reply HTTP 402 with exact payment requirements; an x402 client pays USDC on Base (about two seconds to settle) and retries automatically. Invalid input is rejected free with a 400 before any payment is challenged. See the x402 quickstart.

Questions

What is the national minimum wage in South Africa?: GET /v1/minimum-wage returns the current hourly rate with its effective date and gazette citation. It is reviewed annually, and the endpoint reflects the increase from the day it takes effect.
Are farm and domestic workers on a different minimum?: The NMW now covers them, and the endpoint carries the special categories (including EPWP, which sits lower) explicitly rather than collapsing them into one figure.
How do I check whether a wage is compliant?: POST /v1/answers/wage-check with the wage and hours. It returns a compliant or non-compliant verdict, the floor that applies to that worker type, and the shortfall per hour where there is one.
What about sectors with their own determination?: Some sectors (contract cleaning, private security and others) carry sectoral determinations that sit above the NMW. Those are a separate series so a compliance check does not silently apply the wrong floor.

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