URGENT NEED TO TACKLE THE SKILLS CRISIS
WE ARE facing a major skills crisis and STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and maths) are in particularly short supply.
The smartest and the brightest individuals qualifying here are emigrating, tempted by more attractive work opportunities elsewhere and overseas.
While there is no quick-fix solution, I am conscious that as a country we should be doing all we can to retain our home-grown talent and educated professionals, before it is too late.
Fundamentally, we have an employment paradox. While on the one hand we are struggling to fill skilled roles, on the other hand the unemployment rate rose to
27.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 and is steadily rising. The number of unemployed rose by
103 000 to 6.08 million while the number of employed fell by 90 000 to 16.29 million. Furthermore, the youth unemployment rate currently stands at 52.8 percent.
We know that in the IT sector specifically the job opportunities exist and are ripe for the picking, but we are continually dipping into the same small pool of talent and our peers, customers and partners are doing the same.
Qualified and skilled individuals are moving from one company to another, pushing up the cost to hire them, and the average age of a systems engineer, for example, is steadily rising. At Citrix we often find ourselves having to “loan” our consultants to our partners and customers to ensure IT projects are properly implemented, but this is a short-term fix. In some sectors the recruitment model has been turned on its head, forcing companies to apply for candidates instead of job seekers needing to apply for jobs.
Put simply, there is no new blood entering the market, and while there are several reasons for this, the unstable political situation is undeniably influencing our young people, along with the quality of education in STEM subjects, high crime rates and continuing inequality. These factors combined make it very difficult to position South Africa as a prosperous place to work, but this doesn’t mean it can’t be.
My hope is that in the next 12 months, the business community will have come together in some way, and that progress will be under way to tackle the growing skills crisis. I hope to have some positive news to report soon.