NEWS | NEW CRITICAL SKILLS SURVEY – THE MOST IN-DEMAND SKILLS IN SA MAY BE LEAVING FOR GREENER PASTURES

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Marisa Jacobs, Immigration Specialist and Director at Xpatweb, the largest independent immigration specialists in South Africa, says the company’s recently released annual Critical Skills Survey not only highlights the top critical skills that employers struggle to recruit within local borders but shows striking similarities between the jobs that are in demand in popular emigration destinations, such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

Which skills are the hardest to recruit locally?

The latest Critical Skills Survey, which is considered by the government, surveyed 110 companies, including JSE-listed companies and large multinational groups operating in Africa. Following last year’s survey, ICT specialists and engineers remain the most difficult to recruit, followed by artisans, senior financial executives, professionals in the health sector, executive managers, specialists & academics, mining executives, risk managers, and foreign language speakers.

“The most notable jump in figures are the number of South African companies struggling to recruit artisans, increasing by 45% from last year and professionals in the health sector which rose by a massive 200%” says Jacobs.

Work visa processes to recruit internationally are perceived as onerous

Over 85% of respondents indicated that they find it difficult to recruit critically skilled individuals and that an international search would help them find these skills, but that the work visa process was an inhibitor.

“Respondents indicated that the work visa process prohibits South African employers from recruiting internationally, citing onerous requirements and long processing times of the South African embassies abroad, as some of the major challenges they face. While this is a clear perception shared by the respondents, our experience has shown that if the person being recruited truly has a critical skill, we have never failed to obtain a work visa,” says Jacobs.

 Skills leaving South Africa

South Africa notoriously doesn’t keep record of the number of South Africans who permanently leave the country, but other countries keep track of immigrants.

“Our survey results show that there is a very clear link between the skills that are needed locally and the professions that other countries are recruiting for, again confirming that skills shortages are a global challenge and South Africa is competing for these skills. Skills transfer to local teams and concession planning remains a key element for companies to develop their teams,” concludes Jacobs.

Xpatweb will launch the next Critical Skills survey earlier this year in time to provide input for Government’s new critical skills draft list, which is expected to be published later this year for public comment.

Click here to access the full survey results.

AUTHOR

Marisa Jacobs
Director

Ramaphosa’s success plan for SA’s business & government sectors

NEWS | RAMAPHOSA’S SUCCESS PLAN FOR SA’S BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT SECTORS

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During the address, President Ramaphosa continuously encouraged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) confirming that they continue to build a pipeline of investment which will contribute towards economic growth and therefore job creation.

FDI = ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION

President Ramaphosa indicated that during the last year, R250 billion worth of investment (of the R300 billion in investments announced at the Investment Conference last year) has entered implementation phase.

It is evident from the State of Nation Address, that attracting foreign investment to boost economic growth and employment creation remains high priority on the President’s agenda.

RECOGNISING CHALLENGES

In order to improve the current business climate, our President recognises the challenges faced including the high cost of doing business, high unemployment rate of young South Africans as well as ‘complicated and lengthy regulatory processes.’

Following a recent survey conducted by Xpatweb, many businesses, including large corporates and multinationals, still perceive the visa regime (which forms part of the ‘complicated and lengthy regulatory processes’) as a prohibitor to doing business in South Africa.

Businesses continuously seek to attract foreign talent with the required skillset to positively contribute to the organisations and as such to the economy. The regulatory processes however, in their view, serve as an obstacle, despite the direct and indirect impact these critically skilled expatriate talent has on business and the ability to create jobs.

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES TOGETHER

President Ramaphosa assures us the necessary measures are being put in place to improve the ease of doing business, and subsequently lead to an increase in investment.

Interim solutions, such as the review of the country’s investment promotion policy and architecture, streamlining of regulatory processes, automating permit and other applications, and further reducing the cost of compliance are some of the measures mentioned during his Address.

The above changes will enable a narrowing of the gap between Government and business.

We are encouraged by the President’s remarks and retain that we have never failed to successfully obtain a legal work permit for a foreigner who truly has a scarce skill that is needed in South Africa.

AUTHOR

Marisa Jacobs
Director