The 12th Commission on Employment Equity (CEE) Annual Report due for release next year is targeting to reflect and measure the extent of income differentials in terms of race and gender discrepancies in the workplace.
The Department of Labour Collective Bargaining Executive Manager, Thembinkosi Mkalipi, said in Johannesburg today (Thursday) that this initiative was part of a drive to enforce legislation and give impetus to equity in the workplace.
This forms part of work by the Department of Labour to ensure ‘Equal Pay for Work Equal Value’ to eliminate unfair discrimination in salaries paid to employees.
“It is the duty of companies to comply with their commitments. This initiative to assess income differentials will help map out a clear picture on the future of the labour market in South Africa and how it changes the economic dynamics,” he said the focus would be mainly on the top Johannesburg Securities Exchange-listed companies.
Mkalipi was speaking at the Department of Labour Provincial Office in Gauteng, during a visit by the Department’s Director-General, Nkosinathi Nhleko. The visit marked the end of Nhleko's fact-finding mission to the department's offices and select labour centres across the country.
Captains of industry in South Africa generally support endeavours designed to promote equity, but what is lacking are the results, said Mkalipi.
The recent 11th CEE Annual Report painted a sorry state of affair in that while black people accounted for approximately 86% of employees covered in the reports analysed, they only represent 16,9% at Top Management and 35,9% at the Senior Management level. The report further pointed out that 13 years since the enactment of the Employment Equity Act, that while significant progress had been made in creating a critical mass of both black people and women at the Professionally qualified level, these people seem to have reached a glass ceiling.
Department of Labour Gauteng Provincial Manager Kenny Fick said the department in the province had last year some 300 000 job seekers registered through its Public Employment Services that needed to be matched. Fick said the challenge faced by the department was how to assist the unemployed and make them employable in the labour market.
Fick said partnerships especially with private sector were an important building block in identifying strategies that could be utilised to make people employable.
Nheko said the department had a clear picture of what it seeks to achieve. He said the question was how to structure a working relationship that seeks to ensure quality delivery.
Enquiries:
Mkalipi
Cell: 082 904 4358
Source: Department of Labour
Employment Equity to measurer income differentials
