PLUS
Recognition
Record
(academic)
Recreation
Residence
Roots
Rogues
(gallery)
HOME
 
 
 

The life 
& times 
of
Warren Swil
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

V 1

 

In spite of repeated calls on employers to give equal pay for equal work, big differences between salaries paid to men and women employees, and black and white workers still exist in the western Cape. 

In a survey conducted by the Institute of Personnel Management in conjunction with the Department of Business Science at UCT, more than 1,500 questionnaires were sent to employers in the western Cape in July. Only just over 40 companies responded to the questionnaire.

Although the results of the survey have not yet been finalized, it appears that white workers earn about 34 percent more than black workers doing the same jobs. The survey has also shown that there is still a big difference between salaries paid to men and women doing the same work. On average men earn 37 percent more than women in the same jobs.

But one of the men behind the survey; Mr. Martin Birt, a lecturer in the Department of Business Science at UCT, has warned against relying on the figure too heavily. “There are possible problems in how firms interpreted questions, and the small number of firms that responded. The figures are just a guide, not a gospel,” he said yesterday.

Because the survey was sponsored, detailed figures of salaries and job categories covered in it may not be published. However, in 21 types of jobs in which both black and white workers were employed, a comparison of their average salaries revealed that whites earned 34.57 percent more than blacks. In one case a white worker earned 58 percent more than a black doing the same work. In five of the 21 jobs open to both blacks and whites, the difference in average wages paid was greater than 40 percent.

The survey also showed that there was still a big difference in salaries paid to men and women doing the same work. In eight categories of jobs where figures were given for men and women, it was found that men received 37.9 percent more than women.

The difference in salaries paid to men and women in two of these categories was above 50 percent. The biggest difference, was 60.71 percent. However, the picture of annual bonuses paid to men and women was somewhat different. In some cases men received bigger bonuses than women, while in other jobs the situation was reversed.

But in one category men received on average 95 percent more annual bonus than women, but in another type of job women received 80 percent more than men. This is probably explained by the fact that many other factors, besides basic salary, are used to determine an employee’s annual bonus.