Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday that National Treasury supported the recently released National Minimum Wage report, which “represented a balanced, thoughtful and constructive approach to addressing the challenge of inequality and unemployment”.

The report was an important milestone in government’s development efforts, said Gordhan in a statement.

The Treasury and other stakeholders had contributed to the preliminary minimum wage task team's discussions at the National Economic Development and Labour Council.

Gordhan said his department believed that the National Minimum Wage advisory panel had taken all submissions into consideration to create a framework that supported inclusive economic growth.

“We encourage all stakeholders and South Africans to participate in, and support actively this collective effort to address fault lines, like inequality in society and in the economy,” he concluded.