Lazos de control usados en proceso de separación de petróleo

In the employment context, the remaining imbalances in the South African society are seen clearly. Apartheid can be considered a definite determining causal factor for the significant concentration of Black people in the lower levels of organisations (Du Plessis; Kahlenberg, as cited by Van der Westhuizen, 2015).

The equality of the workforce is usually discussed in relation to the relative national economically active population (EAP) by population group/race and gender. Table 2.3 is a delineation of the distribution of the economically active population by gender and race, according to the Statistics

South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey, of the third quarter, 2015 (as from the 16th Employment Equity report for the period 2015-2016) (Commission for Employment Equity, 2016).

Table 2.3

The South African economically active population by gender and race group

Population group Male Female Total

African 42.1% 35.3% 77.4%

Coloured 5.4% 4.6% 10.0%

Indian 1.7% 1.0% 2.7%

White 5.6% 4.3% 9.9%

Total 54.8% 45.2% 100.0%

Note. Adapted from Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey, of the third quarter, 2015 (as from the 16th Employment Equity report for the period 2015-2016, p. 12). Copyright 2016 by Commission for Employment Equity.

This shows that there is indeed a large majority of Black/African people in the EAP, followed by the Coloured, White, and then Indian groups – this distribution is largely mirrored in the full national population. This however, does not translate to their respective representation in the workforce, especially at higher levels. White people are drastically overrepresented in the top management structures (Figure 2.4) with the White group representation more than six times their EAP and the Indian group more than three times their relative EAP.

Figure 2.4 Top management in South Africa by population group. From Statistics South

Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey, of the third quarter, 2015 (as from the 16th Employment Equity report for the period 2015-2016, p. 15). Copyright 2016 by Commission for Employment Equity.

This trend continues down throughout the different levels of employment, through senior management, middle management, and down to skilled employees, with White South Africans representing significantly higher proportions of these higher tiers of employment than their percentage of the EAP justifies. The lower the occupation level, however, the clearer the shift of employment levels in the category toward the designated group, particularly Black Africans. Table 2.4 clearly shows this race and gender inequality in the national workforce.

Table 2.4

Complete workforce representation levels by race and gender per occupational levels

Note. Adapted from the 16th Employment Equity report for the period 2015-2016, p. 86. Copyright 2016 by Commission for Employment Equity.

Furthermore, one can see a distinct male bias in employment representation, especially in the higher categories. Commentary in the 16th _{annual Employment Equity Report by the Commission} for Employment Equity (CEE) for the 2015/2016 period mentions a slight decrease of White representation on Top Management level from 2014 to 2015 from 70 percent to 68.9 percent in total, with Africans increasing from 13.6 percent to 14.3 percent. The representation of the Coloured group remained the same and the Indian group rose by 0.2 percent. Overall representation shifted by 0.5 percent between females and males, to the benefit of females. The representation of people with disabilities increased from 1.7 percent to 2 percent at this level.

Senior management also showed decrease in White representation. On this occupational level, the total racial representation is 58.1 percent White, 21.2 percent African, 7.4 percent Coloured, 10.2 percent Indian, and 3.1 percent foreign national. The designated groups have a larger representational share in lower categories, such as Professionally Qualified, and the Skilled Technical levels. On the Skilled Technical level, Africans represent 58.8 percent and Whites 22 percent of the workforce. There are notable low levels of representation of people with disabilities throughout (CEE, 2016).

The Employment Equity report, as in previous years (with reference to those separate reports cited by Van der Westhuizen, 2015, and Theron, 2010a, for example) criticizes the South African private sector harshly for this apparent poor transformation, despite the fact that incremental changes toward representivity are made. In the 2015/2016 report, the commission headed by Tabea Kabinde again espouses representivity as the goal for designated groups at all levels, reaffirming commitment to employment equity and affirmative action in this regard. In other words, the aim seems to be that the workforce at every level of employment is to show nearly exact numerical representivity of each population group. The report continues to criticize that “the South African labour market continues to be racialised and gendered. It remains hierarchical with Blacks concentrated at the lower levels and the White group occupying decision-making positions” (CEE, 2016, p. 79). In the same commentary, the chairperson goes on to accuse the private sector of seemingly having “unwritten quotas in the representation of designated groups to keep them at a certain rate.” According to the report it will take many years for equitable representation in the labour market, with transformation occurring at the current rate, especially at upper levels of management, where the “White group have a tight grip.” According to the Institute of Race Relations (as cited in Fin24, 2004, p.1) government has said previously that "race will remain an issue until all echelons of our society are demographically representative." This philosophy (and accompanying policies) is discussed further in a later section of this thesis.