White male Gautengers are the highest earners in South Africa, with young African women in Limpopo the lowest, the SA Institute of Race Relations said.

According to Statistics SA information the SAIRR analysed, the white men, on average, work in the community and social services industry, (including government), are in skilled jobs, belong to a union, and are between 55 and 64 years old.

"...On average the lowest paid employees are African women living in Limpopo, working in private households, not belonging to a union, and aged between 15 and 24," SAIRR's SA Survey found.

The institute said that in 2011, the median monthly wage for African earners was R2380, for coloured earners R3030, for Indian earners R6800, and for white earners R10,000.

This meant "median wages of white earners are four times as high as those of African earners, of skilled employees six times as high as those of unskilled employees, and of unionised employees twice as high as those of non-unionised workers".

Georgina Alexander, a researcher at the Institute, said in a statement: "It must be noted, however, that it takes into account those who earn salaries only.

"The largest and most enduring inequality in South Africa is between those who are employed and those who are not," she said.

* For the study, earnings were assessed using the median monthly income of employed people in both the formal and the informal sector broken down in various ways, such as by race, sex, province, and age. The median is the level that divides the relevant segment of the working population in half, meaning that half earns less than the median and half more.