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The Active Population in Figures

Working Conditions

Legal Weekly Duration

45 hours in any week, and in any case, not more than either nine hours on any day, if the employee works for five days or fewer in a week; or eight hours on any day, if the employee works for more than five days in a week. Working hours can be different for security officers and emergency healthcare staff: 60 hours in any week, and in any case, not more than 12 hours on any day, if the employee works for five days or fewer in a week; or 10 hours on any day, if the employee works for more than five days a week.

Retirement Age

Early retirement starts at 55 years and normal retirement at 60.

Working Contracts

The Labour Act regulates conditions of employment in Namibia. Contracts of employment may be oral or in writing, expressed or implied. If parties are interested in terminating the contract, the period of notice must be not less than:
(a) one day, if the employee has been employed for 4 weeks or less;
(b) one week, if the employee has been employed for more than 4 weeks but not more than one year;
(c) one month, if the employee has been employed for more than 1 year.

Labour Laws

Consult Doing Business Website, to obtain a summary of the labor regulations that apply to local entreprises.

Cost of Labour

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage is determined sector by sector through collective agreements involving trade unions. The minimum wage for the entry level workers in the agricultural sector is the lowest - NAD 4.62 per hour - and goes up to NAD 16.94 per hour for construction workers. The hourly wage is NAD 8.67 for domestic workers.

Average Wage

The average monthly wage (all age and industry groups combined) is NAD 6,759 (NAD 6,850 for men and NAD 6,642 for women) (The Namibian Labour Force Survey 2016).

Social Contributions

Social Security Contributions Paid By Employers: 0.9%
Social Security Contributions Paid By Employees: Every employer is obliged to register with the Social Security Commissioner as an employer and to register every employee (younger than 65 years) under its employ as an employee. Social security contributions are calculated at 1.8% of the employee’s basic salary, shared equally between the employer (0.9%) and the employee (0.9%). The current maximum contribution is NAD 162 (NAD 81 per employee and NAD 81 per employer) for employees whose monthly earnings are above NAD 9 000. For employees earning below NAD 9 000 per month, the monthly employee and employer contributions.

Social Partners

Employer Associations

NWEC - The National Women Entrepreneur Council
MCCI - Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Business Mauritius - Association representing over 1,200 local businesses
AMM - Association of Mauritian Manufacturers

Social Dialogue and Involvement of Social Partners

Namibia has a longstanding tradition of trade unions, which played an important role in the country's liberation struggle. National Union of Namibian Workers, the first national trade union centre, was founded in 1970. Nevertheless, trade unions remained prohibited from forming alliances with political movements and strong trade unions did not emerge inside Namibia until the mid-1980s. The bargaining power of trade unions has been modified several times since the independence and their scope of power is more recently defined by the Labour Act of 2007. The latter maintains a narrow definition of bargaining issues, which revolve around conditions of employment only. The trade unions’ main role is to represent workers in a tripartite arrangement. Furthermore, unionisation rate is rather low (17.5%, 2016 Namibia Labour Force Survey Report).

Labour Unions

National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW)
Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA)
Namibia National Labour Organisation (NANLO)

Unionisation Rate

Trade union membership is relatively low in Namibia. It is estimated that 17.5% of Namibian employees are members of trade unions (The Namibia Labour Force Survey 2016 Report), with the highest rates in education (55.8%) and mining and quarrying (48%) and the lowest rate in private households (1.2%) and real estate (3.4%).

Labour Regulation Bodies

Ministry of Labour