Top management remains white and male-dominated – Report

The Department of Employment and Labour released its 24^th Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) annual report earlier in the week.

According to the report, top management positions in the private sector are mostly occupied by white males.

The report also details how employment equity is structured in the private and public sectors.

The Employment Equity (EE) Act

The Act was established with the aim to promote equal employment opportunities, remove unfair discrimination, and implement affirmative action. It focuses on race, gender, and disability, amongst others.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law EE amendments on 6 April 2023. What was included in the Amendment was to reduce the regulatory burden for those employers who employ less than 50 employees by excluding them from complying with the provisions of Chapter III of the EEA.

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Top Management stats by race

According to reports received by the department, out of all the top managers, 62.1% is occupied by white people, followed by the African population by 17.2%, Indian by 11.6%, Coloured by 6.1% and Foreign National by 3%.

The report notes that although the African population has an Economical Active Population (EAP) of 80.7% in South Africa, the group still does not occupy most top management positions. The Coloured population group has an EAP of 9%, while the department notes that the 3% occupied by Foreign Nationals is relatively high for this occupational level.

However, the top management level is still mostly occupied by the African population with 74.7%, while they represent 14% in the private sector. The White population group is dominating in the private sector with 65.1% and 8.8% in the public sector. Coloureds represent 11.4% in government and 5.9% in the private sector.

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Gender representation

Coming to gender at the occupational level, 73.1% is represented by males, while females represent 26.9%. 74.2% of the males are in the private sector, while 25.8% represent females. When it comes to government, 64.6% are males and 35.4% are females.

Top Management with a disability

The report also reveals that employees with disabilities have a low representation at the Top Management level with 1.8%. “EAP is people within the age of 15 to 64 years old, with or without employment.”

Senior Management stats

Top management jobs include CEO, COO, CFO, MD, and VP, amongst others.

“The report also shows that although the White population group was affected by most of the terminations (57.2%) at this occupational level, the net impact still favoured them in terms of opportunities (i.e. recruitment plus promotions).”

When it comes to senior management, the occupation level is still white and male-dominated. The white population represent 48.5% of the pie, while Africans represent 27.6%, Indians 12.4%, Coloured 8.5% and Foreign Nationals 3%.

“The report shows that government’s progress is much better than the private sector in increasing the representation of the Black population group (Africans, Coloureds and Indians). However, the representation of the White and Indian population groups is much higher than their EAPs at this occupational level.”

The report shows that there has been a shift in terms of genders at this occupation level. In the previous report, males were 62.8% and females were 37.2%. But in the current report, there is 62.3% for males and for females is 37.7%. Most males are represented in the private sector with 63.6%, while females are 36.4%. In government, there are 57.7% males and 42.3% females.

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“The White population group remains over-represented in all sectors and the Indian population group is only under-represented in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector of the economy at the senior management level.”

Most Africans can be found in public administration and defence; compulsory social security, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities and administration.

Foreign Nationals are represented in the financial and insurance (4.4%), professional, scientific and technical activities (3.9%) and education (3.4%) sectors of the economy.

Professionally Qualified level stats

When it comes to professionally qualified occupation level things change. This occupation level is mostly African-dominated. The African population dominates 49.9% of the professional qualified workers, followed by Whites with 29.9%, Coloureds with 10%, Indian with 9% and Foreign Nationals with 2.3%.

There is almost balance in terms of gender with males representing 51.9% and females representing 48.1%. “This is satisfactory progress in terms of the affirmation of females at this occupational level, as employment equity seeks to achieve equitable representation,” reads the report.

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When it comes to race and which sector is mostly represented at this occupational level, the African population group is represented by 74.3% in government and 35.4% in the private sector. Whites are represented by 38.9% in the private sector and 11.5% in government. Coloureds are represented by 11.3% in the private sector and 9.4% in government.

“The African population group is closer to their EAP in Government and underrepresented in the Private Sector at the Professionally Qualified level. It also shows that the representation of the White and Indian population groups is much higher than their EAP in both government and the private Sector. “

Professionally qualified jobs include doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, chartered accountants, information technology (IT)  consultants, teachers, and others.