More than 200 chances to sing for your supper
Musicians are in short supply — but engineers are needed most
WANTED: 378 musicians, 239 singers and 89 dancers. These are the numbers of posts in the performing arts that will need to be filled by next year, according to the Department of Higher Education.
And out-of-work actors can quit their jobs as waiters — 139 of them will be needed, along with 241 music directors.
The figures for South Africa’s 100 most pressing “scarce-skill shortages” were given on Friday in a notice gazetted by the department, which said the list was intended to help the country to improve its planning.
“It could be used to create programmes to develop and produce skills needed by various sectors of the economy,” said department director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde.
According to the list, shortages in the sporting arena included 732 fitness instructors, 11 000 coaches, 469 umpires or referees, 33 jockeys, 43 greenskeepers and 335 golf caddies.
But the professionals most desperately needed were engineers — especially those in the electrical, civil and mechanical fields.
Others featuring in the top 10 scarcest skills included quantity surveyors, project managers, finance managers, physical and engineering science technicians and electricians.
Other professionals and tradesmen in short supply were nurses, doctors, boilermakers, fitters and turners, carpenters and joiners, welders, plumbers and senior teachers.
To determine the scarcity of an occupation, an advisory committee awarded points on the basis of the number of vacancies in that field, among other things.
Other information used in drawing up the list was gleaned from government strategies, including the National Development Plan and the New Growth Path, and from scarceskills lists drawn up by the 21 sector education and training authorities.
According to the department’s projected enrolment tar-
All engineering students who had graduated found employment, a survey found
get for scarce skills, at least 71 714 people were expected to study engineering this year.
A further 41 629 were expected to be enrolled for life and physical sciences, 47 938 for animal and human health studies and 99 836 for teacher training.
Adrian Peters, vice-president of the Engineering Council of South Africa, said there was a shortage of experienced engineers.
“The experienced engineer has to mentor the graduates. There’s no question that there’s a shortage,” he said.
Only 16 232 of the 44 273 practitioners registered with the council are professional engineers.
Peters said one of the reasons for the shortage could be the lack of role models in engineering, especially in townships.
“A very small percentage of kids who choose maths and physical science in Grade 10 actually pass maths and science. Even fewer pass at a level that meets university requirements,” he said.
“Growing the economy of the country or dealing with basic service delivery are infrastructure based, so it’s quite obvious that engineering is a scarce skill.”
Professor Roelf Sandenbergh, dean of the faculty of engineer- ing, built environment and information technology at the University of Pretoria, blamed the schools system for not producing enough maths and science pupils.
Those applying for admission to engineering at the University of Pretoria need to have a pass percentage of 70% in both maths and physical science. Last year, only 8.2% of matrics who wrote maths and 7.4% of those who wrote physical science achieved 70% and higher.
Sandenbergh said the university admitted about 1 400 firstyear students annually.
“In 2001, we had just under 2 000 students in our undergraduate programmes. At the moment, we are just below 5 000.”
He said that according to a survey conducted by the university, all engineering students who graduated had found employment.
Raymond Cele, chair of the Construction Education and Training Authority, said South Africans had a distorted view of artisan jobs.
“There is a perception that if you are a bricklayer, you’re just a nobody. Plumbing is regarded as dirty work.”