Mapped: Minimum Wage per Hour ($)—Comparing Africa to the Rest of the World.

The minimum wage in the UK is 8.7x higher than in South Africa and 30.8x higher than in Nigeria (a lot).𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗘𝗨/𝗨𝗞 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀:

1) The cost of talent in Africa vs. EU/UK/Average salaries of software engineers (Payscale):

1. UK: £39,079 ( $48,458)

2. SA: R388,432 ($22,531)) → 𝟮.𝟮𝘅 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗨𝗞

3. Nigeria (Lagos): ₦3,024,772 ($6,576) → 𝟳.𝟰𝘅 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗨𝗞Developing a product in Africa is a lot cheaper!

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2) Predicted recession.In tech, salaries are a business's biggest cost. The 2023 outlook for the global economy is bad, making cost-cutting a priority for startups globally (55k layoffs in tech recorded in 2023 already).

3) Hybrid policy.According to Velocity Global, 72% of technology companies have employees working outside of a company-owned office. For many companies, distributed teams are normal and don’t damage company culture.

4) Time zone.In comparison to South America or Asia, where talent costs are also low, Africa is in the same or a close enough time zone as the EU and UK.

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Hiring/contracting African talent seems like a logical move to me!

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Calculation method for minimum wages

• All USD exchange conversions from 19 Jan 2023 rates

• Where min. wage is monthly: Wages are divided by the workweek hours x 4.33

• The minimum wages listed refer to a gross amount - before deduction of taxes and social security contributions.•  Source: WageIndicator Foundation