DSSR · Hardship Differential

Johannesburg, South Africa Hardship Rate (DSSR)

Effective date: July 12, 2026 Last updated: July 12, 2026
Hardship Differential
20%
% of basic pay

Historical rate trend

Johannesburg rate history — Hardship (%). Query any past effective date directly via the API.

Effective date Hardship (%)
Jul 12, 2026 20%
Dec 29, 2024 20%
Apr 19, 2015 10%
Jan 12, 2014 5%

How this rate is used

The hardship differential compensates employees for service at Johannesburg where conditions are notably more difficult than in the continental U.S. It is paid as a percentage of basic pay.

Get this data from the API

The exact request that returns this page's data. Change the date parameter to query any historical effective date, or pull it straight into your ERP, payroll, or expense system.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.allowancesapi.com/v1/dssr/allowances/ZA?type=hardship"
Sample response
{
  "effective_date": "2026-07-12",
  "results": [
    {
      "hardship": {
        "effective_date": "2026-07-12",
        "rate": 20
      },
      "iso_code": "ZA",
      "location": "Johannesburg",
      "postcode": "10414"
    }
  ],
  "verification_url": "https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=184\u0026menu_id=78"
}

Johannesburg rate FAQ

What is the Hardship rate for Johannesburg, South Africa?

The current DSSR Hardship rate for Johannesburg, South Africa is 20%, effective Jul 12, 2026.

How has the Johannesburg Hardship rate changed?

In Dec 29, 2024 the Hardship rate was 20%. The full history is shown in the table above and is queryable by effective date via the API.

Source & methodology

Effective period
Effective Jul 12, 2026
Last updated
July 12, 2026

Allowances API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any U.S. Government agency. All rate data is sourced from official public rate tables and re-published in a normalized format.