Jobs portal CareerJunction has published its Employment Insights for February 2022, showing the most required job skills in South Africa right now.
The report is based on comprehensive data gathered from the 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.
The insights report replaces the previous CareerJunction’s employment supply and demand index, taking a more detailed look at the job sectors in the country that are currently hiring, and which positions are most sought after.
CareerJunction recorded growing hiring activity in three main sectors over the last three months, specifically in finance, sales and marketing. In each sector, several roles have been advertised more frequently.
Marketing +10%
- Product management
- Events and coordination planning
Sales +3%
- Real estate / property agent
- Commodities / financial service agent
- Account management
Finance +1%
- Internal auditing
- External auditing
- Payroll and wages
- Treasury
- Financial analysis
- Financial services consulting
- Bookkeeping
- Other financial advisories
CareerJunction said that cost & management accounting, change management and business development are the top three most scarse skills at present.
On the other side, CareerJunction also recorded a decline in hiring activity in the medical and health, manufacturing and assembly, and businesses and management sectors. These sectors also had several roles where job ads have been posted less frequently.
Business & Management -2%
- Middle / department management
- Business development
- Executive management / Director
- Senior management
- Organisational design
- Team leader and supervisor
Manufacturing & Assembly -5%
- Artisan
- Process control
- Plant / production control
- Tool/die making
Medical & Health -23%
- Nursing / professional caregiving
- Pharmacist
- Medical assistance and support
According to CareerJunction, candidates in finance, IT, and business & management are still highly sought-after positions.
“Comparing hiring activity across these job categories year-on-year over the last 3 years, the IT sector seems to have recovered from the slowdown in recruitment activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic,†it said.
KwaZulu-Natal, in particular, is showing improved employment trends, especially in IT and finance, where hiring activity has grown significantly.
The majority of overall job listings are in Gauteng, where 51% of the listed vacancies are registered, CareerJunction said. This is followed by the Western Cape with 21% and KwaZulu Natal with 10% of the listings.
Approximately 3% of advertised jobs are for international companies, while 2% specifically offer work-from-home opportunities.
Alongside growing and declining hiring trends among employers (the demand side of job placement), CareerJunction’s report also noted a spike in available candidates (the supply side) in a few other sectors.
CareerJunction’s latest Employment Insights Report shows that IT skills are once again in demand, and there has been positive growth for remote working.
Most of the job opportunities in South Africa are in Gauteng (51%), followed by Western Cape at 21% and KwaZulu-Natal at 10%.
KwaZulu-Natal is showing improved employment trends, especially in IT and finance, where hiring activity has grown significantly.
Comparing hiring activity across these job categories year-on-year over the last three years, the IT sector appears to have recovered from the slowdown in recruitment activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Skills in finance and business & management are also sought after.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused job losses across the board, and also stifled hiring activity, which was 40% down during the second quarter of 2020.
Restaurant & hospitality, legal, transportation and sales were some of the hardest hit job sectors.
2021 marked a market recovery with vacancies in the hard hit sectors of restaurant & hospitality and sales recovering to almost pre-Covid levels and legal showing a surge in jobs of 127% of pre-Covid demand.
As a result of the pandemic, remote work opportunities have become the new norm globally. Many business are looking to employ people remotely to save on office overhead costs and increase attractiveness in working for their organisations.
Certain sectors – such as IT, finance and business & management – are offering more and more remote job opportunities to attract the right talent.
