CareerJunction, a leading online job portal in South Africa, recently released its Employment Insights Report for February 2023. The report highlights the most in-demand job skills in the country at present. The report draws its conclusions from data collected from Saongroup South Africa, where around 5,000 top recruiters of the country advertise their job positions to millions of registered job seekers.
The report indicates a 2% year-on-year increase in hiring activity from February 2022 to February 2023. Additionally, it notes an 8% increase in recruitment activity in the past month. The current scenario is quite different from the start of the year, where data showed a significant decline in hiring activity with no specific job categories in high demand.
Demand for Business & Management, Information Technology, Finance, as well as Admin, Office & Support staff, saw a sharp surge in demand during the past month, driving the increase in hiring activity. However, since the increase in hiring activity across these four sectors is relatively recent, the trend is not yet reflected in the group’s three-month analysis.
The report also shows that hiring activity and employment trends are still mostly subdued, with only the warehousing and logistics and building and construction sectors showing longer-term demand. The three-month trend analysis indicates that roles in these sub-sectors have been advertised more frequently in recent times.
Building and Construction, Electrician, and Construction Worker saw a 2% increase in hiring activity during the last three months, while Dispatch and Receiving in Warehousing and Logistics saw a 1% increase during the same period. However, the report highlights a significant decline in hiring activity for two other sectors, with Admin, Office, and Support experiencing a 17% drop in hiring activity, while IT hiring activity fell by 14%.
The report notes an increase in the number of candidates signing up and applying for jobs from the design, media and arts, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors, indicating an increase in the number of journalists, graphic designers, web designers, waiters, artisans, machinists, and controllers in the market.
While most of the jobs on offer are still based in Gauteng, which accounts for 54% of recruitment ads, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal, the report highlights a significant downturn in hiring activity for design and media jobs in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, Gauteng has shown consistent growth in hiring activity for this sector over the last three years.
For sales and marketing, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have seen consistent growth in hiring activity for this sector over the past three years. In contrast, the Western Cape has seen a 19% decline year-on-year.
The report suggests that finance jobs are still in high demand, with most people in this field (61%) based in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape and KZN (13% each). Job roles within the sector, such as accountants, bookkeepers, and creditors clerks, are still in demand, and the report notes the corresponding pay scales for these positions.
Payroll administrators can expect to earn between R18,958 and R21,872 per month, while creditors clerks can earn between R15,801 and R18,682 per month. Financial controllers can earn between R46,322 and R59,618 per month.
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