Learnership stipends in South Africa 2026

Learnership allowances are not a suggestion or a SETA guideline. They are set under the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018 (Act No. 9 of 2018). The current figures come from Government Notice R.7083 in Government Gazette No. 54075, published 3 February 2026 and binding from 1 March 2026.

Section 6(5) of that notice says workers who have concluded learnership agreements under section 17 of the Skills Development Act are entitled to the allowances in Schedule 2. Here is Schedule 2 in full:

Monthly figures are the weekly amount multiplied by 4.33, the standard conversion used in the Act. They are rounded to the nearest rand and are indicative - you are paid weekly amounts, not a fixed monthly salary.

The legal floor is low. Competitive employers pay well above it. But there is a trap here worth naming: most South African employers do not publish stipend figures at all, and the numbers circulating on job-listing sites are frequently invented, out of date, or lifted from a different programme.

Everything in this table has been checked against the employer's own site or an official government publication. Where we could not verify a figure, we say so rather than repeating what aggregators claim.

A learnership stipend is an allowance paid while you train. It behaves differently to a wage in ways that matter:

• It is meant to cover costs - transport, food, data - not to be a living wage supporting a household.
• It is usually tied to attendance. Miss classroom or workplace days without a valid reason and the deduction is normally lawful under your learnership agreement.
• It normally stops when the programme ends. A learnership is a fixed-term contract of 12 to 24 months. Completion is not a job offer unless the agreement says so.
• It is not always taxed in practice, but it is not automatically exempt either. Above the annual tax threshold, PAYE can apply. Ask for a payslip.
• UIF and other deductions may or may not appear depending on how the agreement is structured.

If your programme is an internship, a YES placement or an EPWP job rather than a registered learnership, Schedule 2 does not apply to you. EPWP workers have their own minimum of R16.62 per hour from 1 March 2026.

Four steps, in order:

1. Confirm it is a registered learnership. Ask for the learnership agreement and the SETA registration number. If there is no signed tripartite agreement between you, the employer and the training provider, Schedule 2 may not cover you.
2. Find your NQF level and credit standing. Both should be on the agreement. Credits already earned is the column that sets your rate.
3. Compare against the table above. Multiply the weekly figure by 4.33 for a rough monthly equivalent.
4. Ask for a payslip showing gross allowance and any deductions. You are entitled to one.

If you are being paid below the gazetted minimum, that is a contravention of the National Minimum Wage Act. Raise it with your employer in writing first, then the Department of Employment and Labour or the CCMA.

Three things drive the spread:

• Who is funding it. A large corporate funding its own pipeline out of skills-development budget can pay whatever it likes. A programme running purely on a SETA discretionary grant is constrained by that grant.
• B-BBEE and tax incentives. Learnerships earn employers B-BBEE skills-development points and a Section 12H tax allowance. Employers chasing those points sometimes run larger, leaner intakes.
• Sector norms. Mining and finance sit at the top. Hospitality, tourism and community-facing programmes sit near the floor - often because board, accommodation or meals are provided in kind.

A lower stipend with real placement rates at the end can beat a higher stipend that leads nowhere. Ask what percentage of the previous cohort was absorbed into permanent roles.