Income inequality narrows

SA INCOMES have risen, while income inequality has narrowed over the past decade, a labour analyst said.

“After-inflation incomes have risen sharply, from R44 431 a year in 2000 to R61 645 in 2011, a real increase of 39 percent, or a respectable 3.3 percent a year,” said Adcorp labour economist Loane Sharp.

In the past decade, income inequality between the races, especially between blacks and whites, had declined sharply, he said.

“In 2000, the average black South African earned 15 percent of the average white South African’s income, whereas in 2011 a typical black person earned 40 percent of a typical white person’s income.”

About 14 percent of the black workforce, or 1.3 million people, earn as much as or more than the average white employee. This was up from 270 000 in 2000, an increase of more than a million.

“Over the past decade, government employment has increased from one million to 1.24 million, and the proportion of blacks in the civil service has increased from 42 percent to 74 percent.

“As a result, nearly 40 percent of SA’S highest-earning blacks are employees of the SA government.”

Sharp said government policies could be holding black incomes back. This included the poor standard of education at public schools. – Sapa