Publications
Thandisizwe Mgudlwa
Black South Africans still earn way below their white counter-parts 22 years after SA became a democracy.
With all the expectation of transformation and racial equality, the road ahead seems to long to achieve this objectives, when you consider that white South African still earn five times higher than black people.
This is confirmed by latest Living Conditions of Households in South Africa survey, conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), which is detailing the average annual income of South Africans.
According to Stats SA, he LCS has two primary objectives, firstly to provide statistical information on household consumption expenditure patterns to inform the updating of the consumer price index (CPI), and secondly to report on poverty levels and patterns."
The information presented was collected from 23,380 households across the country over a period of 12 months (2014/2015). The total figures are therefore an estimate based on the data provided.
According to the LCS report, the average income in South Africa is approximately R138,168 per annum, with the biggest portion derived primarily from work. Other income sources include capital gains, pensions and allowances, and rent.""
In addition, the data provided shows that white South Africans still command the highest average incomes in the country at approximately R444,446 a year. And this is over 1.5 times greater than Indians/Asians at R271,621 per year. And almost 5 times more than black South Africans, at R92,893 per year.
Moreover, black South Africans make up 80% of the country’s population. And whites accounted for 8%.
Stats SA’s data showed that despite the large wage inequality, the gap has narrowed since the previous LCS report in 2011, which found that the average white South African earned six times higher than the average black South African.
Previous global studies on SA's income inequality have found that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world followed by Brazil.
