South Africa’s domestic workers are having it tough, with a stagnant economy that has led to a shrinking work base, underpayment and exploitation.
The country lost 31 000 domestic worker jobs in the third quarter of 2026, pushing employment in the sector to its lowest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stats SA also noted that employment in private households fell 7.9% year-on-year, reflecting just how sharply the sector has contracted.
There are about 800 000 domestic workers employed in South Africa. Stats SA revealed that, quarter-on-quarter, the sector has been shedding jobs.
The third quarter of 2026 saw private households shed 31,000 jobs, a 3.7% loss of domestic worker jobs compared to the second quarter of 2026.
The labour union representing hundreds of domestic workers, United Domestic Workers of South Africa (UDWOSA) says what’s concerning is employers dismissing domestic workers without any warning or prior notice.
“Domestic workers are the first to see if employers are struggling financially. The idea of ones who say they are divorcing because things are not going well in the house. The ones who are saying, We are moving from a bigger house, we are going to a smaller one, because things are not going well because some domestic workers will say the life hasn’t changed, my employers are still a little bit spending. They are still going on holidays. They do everything but they are reducing my days. Even domestic workers don’t understand it’s better that they just separate with them in dignity give them their severance package, and prepare their UI 19 forms for them, at least to have that temporarily relief from UIFs to get that financial relief for the benefits from the UIF,” says Pinky Mashiane the founder of UDWOSA.
South Africa’s domestic workers are having it tough, with a stagnant economy that has led to a shrinking work base, underpayment and exploitation. The country lost 31 000 domestic worker jobs in the third quarter of 2026
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According to CEO of organisation Maid 4U, Lindiwe Shibambo, many employers are also failing to register their workers for UIF, exposing them to further vulnerabilities when the job is lost.
“We have employers that are taking this as an informal, you know, space where they are not hearing us when we speak of, there must be a job spec, there must be a contract, there must be registration of that domestic worker. There must be vetting and screening of that domestic worker we need more labour inspectors to be doing the inspection. And the Department of Employment and Labour, looking at how these inspections can be done, to protect household, to protect employers, to protect employee, to protect the inspectors as well.”
Honorary Professor at Wits Business School Professor, Jannie Rossouw, says with households buckling under the pressure of a slow growth economy, more needs to be done to catalyse growth.
“When household budgets are squeezed, households have to make choices and one of the choices would be whether to have domestic help or not. Other choices can be tougher choices, like putting children in cheaper schools. It would help a lot if the oil price can come back to levels before the Iranian War started, because with that fuel crisis would drop, fuel prices would decline to the levels we had before March of this year, that would be a great help to ourselves. Secondly, our economy need to grow at more than 3% per annum. Growth at that rate will imply new jobs created.”
Labour union UDWOSA encourages domestic workers to seek relief when hard done by, worried about the exploitation of migrant workers.
“I would also advise Migrant domestic workers who are dismissed by employers, because most of them are afraid to go to CCMA saying that they don’t have work payment, they only have a passport. CCMA doesn’t ask for a work permit. As long as you are aware in South Africa, you can go and open a case with the CCMA using your passport number. If employers can employ domestic workers without documents, they must never think that they can exploit them the way they want domestic workers don’t have powers to take them to CCMA . On the government side, if the government can make sure that the national minimum wages employers are complying with because there’s a lot of underpayment that is done by employers who can even afford to pay more than the national minimum wages.”
The organisations say they’re looking forward to the country’s Employment Services Amendment Bill for protection and relief for the country’s domestic workers.