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South Africa is in desperate need of ICT and engineering skills, and the education system cannot produce these skills quickly enough.
This is one of the findings in the recently published Xpatweb Critical Skills Survey Report 2019/2020.
The survey was launched to provide information on the new draft of the critical skills list that was expected to be released by the Department of the Interior (DHA) in April 2020.
The 2019/20 Critical Skills Survey specifically tracked the impact of immigration on various critical sectors within the South African economy.
The results show that engineers and ICT specialists remain highly sought after skills, with 19% and 21% of participants, respectively, indicating that these are the critical skill areas they find the most difficult to recruit.
This is supported by the South African Civil Engineering Institution (SAICE), which said South Africa continues to lose hundreds of engineers who migrate with their families year after year.
This “brain drain” has created a major skills shortage in the engineering sector in South Africa.
According to the South African Institute of Information Technology Professionals (IITPSA), South Africa also desperately needs ICT skills.
“The education sector simply cannot produce these skills in the quantity that South Africa needs,” the report states.
These factors are only the tip of the iceberg that makes multinationals look globally for the necessary skills.
While this is bad news for South African companies, it is excellent news for local engineers and ICT professionals.
Strong demand for their skills means they have good job prospects and may demand higher salaries than their colleagues.
The most difficult skills to hire
The Xpartweb 2019/2020 Critical Skills Survey asked multinationals and corporations in South Africa about the difficulty of hiring certain skills.
The survey was completed by 178 companies, and 78% of those surveyed are C-suite level executives and managers in key decision-making positions.
47% of respondents said they find it extremely difficult to recruit critical skills professionals in South Africa.
The image below shows the most requested critical skills in South Africa.
Now Read: What It’s Like To Apply For One Of Amazon’s 3,000 New Jobs In South Africa
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