{"id":301672,"date":"2019-02-25T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=301672"},"modified":"2019-02-25T16:27:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T14:27:57","slug":"the-degrees-that-pay-the-highest-salaries-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/301672\/the-degrees-that-pay-the-highest-salaries-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The degrees that pay the highest salaries in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey published by Stats SA for the fourth quarter of 2018 once again highlighted the importance of gaining a qualification<\/a><\/strong> in South Africa in order to secure a job.<\/p>\n

While the country’s unemployment rates sit at their highest levels in decades, there is a clear distinction between the unemployment rates across various education levels.<\/p>\n

The latest report shows that, of the 6.1 million unemployed persons in Q4 2018, approximately 57.1% had an education level below matric, followed by those with a matric at 34.2%.<\/p>\n

By comparison, only 1.7% of the unemployed persons were graduates, while 6.3% had some form of tertiary qualification as their highest level of education.<\/p>\n

The below graph shows how the unemployment rate by education status has changed in South Africa from 2011 to 2018.<\/p>\n

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This data was further corroborated by an analysis of SA university exit surveys done by the Mail & Guardian, which found that a large percentage of graduate go on to be gainfully employed.<\/p>\n

According to the paper, between 83% and 97% of graduates from major SA universities go on to find work within six months of graduating – the only outlier being the University of KwaZulu Natal, where the rate is much lower.<\/p>\n