The average lowest paid worker would need to work for 21 months to earn what the average CEO in the wholesale and retail sector earns in one day.
This is according to pay gaps & leadership diversity in the JSE-listed wholesale and retail sector research by Just Share, a non-profit shareholder activism organisation.
The wholesale and retail sector is the second-largest employer in the country after government, employing around 17% of the workforce.
The research is based on an analysis of the most recent public disclosures of 10 JSE-listed companies that employ 389,766 and have a yearly revenue of R833.7 billion.
These companies are:
– Shoprite Holdings
– Pick n Pay
– Pepkor Holdings
– The Foschini Group
– Woolworths
– Mr Price Group
– Dis-chem
– Clicks Group
– Truworths International
– Spar Group
According to the research, vertical wage gaps in the wholesale and retail sector are large.
The average unweighted ratio between total CEO remuneration and the total lowest earner’s is 597 while the highest ratio is 1,308 (Woolworths).
This means that CEOs in the wholesale and retail sector earn on average 597 times more than the wages of the lowest paid workers.
Woolworths and Shoprite are the only two of the 10 companies that publicly disclose their internal minimum wage.
The minimum wage for Woolworths is 57% higher than the sectoral determined annual minimum wage while Shoprite’s is 10% higher.
Where internal minimum wages are not available, Just Share used prescribed 2023 and 2024 minimum wages as per the sectoral determinations to calculate vertical wage gaps.
The vertical wage gaps is measured as the ratio of the CEO’s total remuneration to the lowest earner’s total remuneration.
| Company | Total remuneration | Internal minimum wage | Vertical pay gap |
| Woolworths | R122, 468, 000 | R93,600 | 1308 |
| Shoprite | R64,666,000 | R65,263 | 991 |
| Mr Price | R45,913,000 | R64,537 | 711 |
| Truworths | R38,259,000 | R59,483 | 643 |
| Foschini Group | R36,145,000 | R64,537 | 560 |
| Spar Group | R25,043,00 | R59,483 | 421 |
| Clicks | R19,418,000 | R59,483 | 326 |
| Dis-Chem | R16,702,000 | R64,537 | 259 |
| Pick n Pay | R10,000,000 | R64,537 | 155 |
| Average | R42,068,222 | R66,162 | 597 |
Pay disclosure
According to Just Share, the Companies Amendment Act 16 of 2024 will make vertical pay gap disclosure mandatory for public and state-owned companies.
A statement from the Presidency in regards to the Act said that the Act is aimed at achieving equity between directors and senior management on the one hand as well as shareholders and workers on the other hand.
“In addition, the law addresses public concerns regarding high levels of inequalities in society by introducing better disclosure of senior executive remuneration and the reasonableness of the remuneration.”
The Act will require public companies and state-owned enterprises to disclose:
– the total remuneration received by each director and prescribed officer in a company;
– the total remuneration of the employees with the highest and lowest total remuneration;
– the average total remuneration of all employees, median remuneration of all employees; and the remuneration gap between the total remuneration of the top 5% highest paid employees and the bottom 5% lowest paid employees.
IOL Business