This paper estimates a living wage for wine grape growing area of Western Cape Province South Africa using a
new methodology developed by the authors that builds and improves on earlier work on living wages published
by ILO (see Anker, 2006 and Anker, 2011). This methodology has been used so far to estimate a living wage for
urban areas in 9 countries for a multi-national corporation. The present report for South Africa was supported
by Fairtrade International as a first step to understand the impact of Living Wage on prices paid for rural
commodities and as part of their memorandum with Social Accountability (SAI) and GoodWeave to develop a
Living Wage methodology.
These partners were joined later by three other organizations and members of the ISEAL Network of standard
setters (Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Agriculture Network/Rainforest Alliance, and UTZ Certified). In
their common declaration for a “Shared Approach to Living Wage” the organizations have committed to “adopt
a common definition of living wage and apply a common methodology to estimating living wage levels … with
long term goal and shared mission of these six organizations to see improvements in workers’ conditions,
including wage levels, in the farms, factories and supply chains … by seeking support from brands, buyers, and
retailers to make wage growth possible at the primary production level possible and … working together with
the relevant stakeholders.”