Is 388 Rand fair for a day's work in South Africa?

oputaossai · #1 (**permalink**) 27th April 2012, 10:07 AM

Hi,

I would like to know what a reasonable hourly wage in South African Rand would be for a South African, living in South Africa, who is in their fourties and has graduated from university (in IT in this case). I'd also like to know what is a reasonable wage for a days work for such a person.

The person's already done a job for me, which should have taking, maybe, 5 hours to do, and i paid him $50, which worked out to be about 388 Rand.

I, myself, am not a South African - i'm British and live in the Uk. I'm doing business with this person who lives in South Africa, and wanted to know a fair amount to pay them.

I met this person on an international business website, and for me (and most employers who use such sites) a major benefit is to get jobs done for much cheaper than we would get them done in our own countries.

However, as much as i want my jobs done for as cheap as possible, i don't want to exploit anybody.

Yours answers would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Oputa

vegasboy · #2 (**permalink**) 27th April 2012, 01:17 PM

In his 40's and a Uni graduate in IT? If he was full time employed I would guess he would earn a minimum of R40 000 per month, depending experience and a lot of other factors. It is pretty much a days work (5 hours) he put in for you, so do the math to give you an idea.

$50 would be, in my humble opinion, an insult. But then again, I don't have all the facts and figures. If he is unemployed, he may be grateful for the $50, who knows?

Johanna · #3 (**permalink**) 27th April 2012, 06:30 PM

No it is not fair.

oputaossai · #4 (**permalink**) 2nd May 2012, 01:17 PM

Ok guys, thank you for your responses.

Aussiegirl2 · #5 (**permalink**) 8th May 2012, 01:36 AM

I agree with the former

chrisc2615 · #6 (**permalink**) 3rd July 2012, 03:54 PM

That is what a housekeeper in a large house would earn, plus she would get food as well. I would say at least R 2000 a day

GabyS · #7 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 08:29 AM

It would be a decent wage for a recent graduate. That's more or less an entry level wage. If the guy is a freelancer who has other better paying stuff on the go and is just tiding himself over then it's OK. It also depends on how menial the job was.

I'm a 20-something South African who is used to slave wages though

chrisc2615 · #8 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GabyS

It would be a decent wage for a recent graduate. That's more or less an entry level wage. If the guy is a freelancer who has other better paying stuff on the go and is just tiding himself over then it's OK. It also depends on how menial the job was.

I'm a 20-something South African who is used to slave wages though

If you are getting slave wages then you must have a slave-driver boss. I always endeavoured to pay my staff the maximum that was feasible, but it was always 20% less than they wanted. However, when they applied for a position doing the same work in a different company, they soon realised that they were quite well off.

I think its not so much how much you get, but what you do with it. In the 1960's I started off as a know it all graduate with an insurance co for £ 50 a month. I managed to buy a car within 6 months and save up enough to buy a house 5 years later. I am not saying that I am a paragon of virtue when it comes to money, but some people are always poor, whatever they earn, and some people manage quite nicely. My daughter, on the other hand, who is an architect, gets paid what I consider a sinful amount of money, but she considers it quite average.