These are the most in-demand job skills in South Africa right now
Despite expected economic downturn in South Africa due to the coronavirus pandemic, and muted hiring intentions as the country grapples with a technical recession, companies are still on the lookout for skilled workers.
On Sunday (15 March) president Cyril Ramaphosa declared the ongoing coronavirus pandemic a state of disaster in South Africa, and ordered that a number of preventative interventions take place to minimise the spread of the virus among the population.
Among these measures was a strong push for social distancing, which has had a massive impact on businesses in the country.
While many businesses have taken measures to keep workplaces sanitised, others have encouraged employees to work from home, where possible.
The National Treasury and the Department of Economic Development has encouraged businesses to function as normally as is possible in an extraordinary time, and has asked the population not to panic.
Against this backdrop, businesses have been encouraged to keep economic activity up, and to remain focused on economic growth, job creation and productivity.
According to the latest CareerJunction Index (CJI), job search and hiring activity increasing in February.
The top employment sectors are in architecture & engineering, IT, manufacturing & assembly, business & management and marketing, the group noted in its latest report.
The index reached 98 points in February 2020 (sub-100 indicated more job seekers than job offers). Demand for labour increased by 3% while job search activity increased by 5% resulting into slightly elevated competition in the job market.
Trending jobs in South Africa include:
Executive Management / Director
Average salary offerings for an executive level position:
- GP – R93,613 to R161,370 pm
- WC – R92,042 to R120,914 pm
- KZN – R83,452 to R96,667 pm
Senior Management
Average salary offerings for a managerial level position:
- GP – R61,967 to R75,984 pm
- WC – R48,829 to R57,926 pm
- KZN – R46,534 to R58,452 pm
Middle / Department Management
Average salary offerings for a managerial level position:
- GP – R47,790 to R58,423 pm
- WC – R42,207 to R52,218 pm
- KZN – R44,505 to R50,923 pm
In-demand skills
In-demand skills have remained pretty stable over the last few months, indicating a persistent need for this skills in the job market – specifically for software developers, middle managers and reps/sales consultants.
IT skills remain in high demand in the South African job market. Since January 2020, demand for software developers increased by 20%.
There has been a rise in demand for managerial roles. During February 2020, one out of four managerial vacancies are focussed on financial managers.
After a dip in demand towards the end of last year, hiring activity for sales consultants has been steadily growing. Since the beginning of 2020, demand for sales consultants grew by more than 30%, CareerJunction said.
An overview of vacancy levels across various sectors (indicated by the Demand graph) provides a good indication of where the majority of employment takes place.
The IT, business & management and finance sectors are undoubtedly the most sought-after sectors, followed by the sales, admin, office & support and architecture & engineering sectors, among others listed.
When looking at active job seekers across various sectors (indicated by the Supply graph), areas of high supply correlate closely to areas of high demand, however supply outstrips demand in some areas, leading to a competitive environment for job seekers, CareerJunction said.
Read: Coronavirus will disrupt the economy – hitting business, productivity and jobs: Ramaphosa
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