Just one fifth of top-level executive jobs in South Africa are held by blacks, according to a report published Wednesday by the country’s statistics office.

“The majority of workplaces are still ‘lilly white’ at the top and often male over-represented, with a few pockets of black and women executives,” said Labor
Minister Mildred Oliphant in an AFP report.

Blacks represent 75 percent of South Africa’s workforce but just 19.8 percent of blacks hold senior-level jobs. This compares with less than 11 percent of whites in the workforce holding almost two thirds of senior jobs in 2013, according to the report.

South Africans of Indian descent held 8.4 percent of top jobs, while those of mixed race, known locally as Coloureds, had 5.1 percent of executive jobs. Foreign nationals represented the remaining 4.1 percent of top-level jobs.

The disparity at the top of South Africa’s corporate ladder exists despite employment equity legislation known as Black Economic Empowerment aimed at addressing racial exclusion in the labor market — a legacy of apartheid, AFP reports.

In a separate report, the statistics office showed disparities’ in average earnings between
racial groups. In 2013, median earnings of the white population increased to 10,500 rand (US$1,000), while among the Coloured workers there was a decline, AFP reports.

“At 2,600 rand in 2013, the earnings of black Africans amounted to barely 25 percent of white earnings,” the statistics office said.

The labor market figures come a month ahead of elections expected to be the toughest ever faced by the ruling African National Congress.

Unemployment is a key issue in the May 7 election. Out of a working-age population of 35 million, just 15 million South Africans are employed.

The statistics office report also said 400,000 formal-sector jobs were created in the five years leading to 2013. “Employment in the formal sector increased from 10.1 million in 2008 to 10.5 million in 2013,” Statistics South Africa said in a statement.