These are the most in-demand job skills in South Africa right now
Jobs portal CareerJunction has published its latest Employment Insights report for April 2023, showing which job skills are trending upward in South Africa.
The insights report is based on comprehensive data gathered from Saongroup South Africa – where around 5,000 of the country’s top recruiters, both agencies and employers, advertise their positions to millions of registered jobseekers.
CareerJunction uses the data to provide an analysis of the supply and demand trends in the online job market and represents the current online labour dynamics in South Africa.
According to the group, April 2023 saw a 1% dip in recruitment activity, adding pressure to an already-diminished jobs landscape in the country. However, recruitment activity in the month was also impacted by the slew of public and school holidays that took place over the review period.
Despite the season factors, hiring activity was still 7% lower than a year ago, showing that the downturn was more than just the season at play.
Over the month, recruitment activity decreased across most sectors, with the most significant month-on-month decreases experienced in the Finance, Business & Management, and IT sectors, CareerJunction said.
Since the decrease in hiring activity across these sectors is very recent, this trend is not reflected in the three-month analysis.
When looking at the longer three-month trend, the positive news is that there hasn’t been a significant decline in hiring activity across any industry in particular.
On the other hand, there has been a notable uptick in hiring in certain sectors, with a sizeable boost to job hiring in the building and construction, admin and sales sectors. These are the most in-demand job skills in each:
Building and Construction: +40%
- Building project management
- Quantity surveying
- Electrician
Sales: +21%
- Retail
- Account management
- Representative / sales consulting
- Real estate/property agent
Admin, office and support: +18%
- Personal assistant
- Client / customer support
- Health, safety and environment
- Human resources
- Secretary
- Admin clerk
- Switchboard / reception
On the supply side, CareerJunction noted that a significant number of candidates are signing up to search and apply for jobs in the manufacturing and assembly, design and media, and building and construction fields.
Regionally, Gauteng continues to offer the most employment opportunities in the country, with 52% of all open positions being advertised in the province. This is followed by the Western Cape (22%) and KwaZulu Natal (10%).
For admin, office and support jobs, this sector saw significant growth in hiring activity in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng, when comparing February, March and April 2023 to the same period in 2022. Finance jobs have also been increasing in these three provinces over the last year.
Business and management positions are on the up in the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal – although CareerJunction noted that this has been slower over the past 12 months. While Gauteng saw a marked increase in these positions over the last year, it has shown a downturn in 2023.
Salaries
CareerJunction highlighted the three most in-demand professions in South Africa right now, as well as the salary bands they tend to draw.
Software Developer
The most in-demand profession is software developer, which can see salary offerings between R33,547 per month and R64,396 per month, depending on location.
- Gauteng from R44,832 to R64,397
- KwaZulu-Natal from R36,819 to R49,392
- Western Cape from R33,547 to R66,264
The top skills in this field are: SQL, .Net, C#, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Java, Asp.Net, PHP, MVC and Angular.
Sales Representative
The second most in-demand profession is sales representative, which can see earnings between R18,131 and R25,394 per month, depending on location.
- Gauteng from R18,797 to R25,394
- KwaZulu-Natal from R18,800 to R24,085
- Western Cape from R18,131 to R23,448
The top skills in this field are: sales, communication, customer services, admin, computer, marketing, leadership, time management, planning, negotiation and presentation.
CareerJunction also flagged growing demand for roles within sales in South Africa, in addition to sales representatives. Account managers and sales administrators are also in high demand, it said. Some market-related salaries for in-demand skills include:
- Key Account Manager from R35,037 to R44,386 per month
- Sales Coordinator from R16,096 to R20,202 per month
- Telesales Agent from R5,406 to R13,402 per month
Financial Accounting
The third most in-demand profession in the country is financial accounting, where salaries are between R29,039 and R40,754 per month.
- Gauteng from R31,379 to R40,754
- KwaZulu-Natal from R29,039 to R38,319
- Western Cape from R30,898 to R39,074
The top skills in this field are: accounting, Pastel, MS Office, Sage, SAP, taxation, communication, financial reporting, caseware, reconciliations, attention to detail, and accpac.
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