Jobs portal CareerJunction has published its employment insights report for September 2022, highlighting the job skills that are most in demand in South Africa right now.
The report is based on comprehensive data gathered from Saongroup South Africa – where around 5,000 of the country’s top recruiters advertise their positions to millions of registered jobseekers.
Recruitment activity increased slightly in September, the group said, noting an encouraging sign in the market: year-on-year, hiring activity has been increasing continuously. Recruitment activity over the past 13 months has increased by 18%, it said.
In-demand jobs skills
Finance, Information Technology and Business & Management have seen the biggest increase in hiring activity in the last month, the group noted. In each sector, several roles have been advertised more frequently:
Finance +9%
- Financial/Project Accounting
- Payroll & Wages
- External Auditing
- Accounts Payable/Receivable
- Credit Management
- Cost & Management Accounting
- Purchasing & Procurement
- Bookkeeping
- Financial Analysis
- Internal Auditing
Information Technology +8%
- Software Development
- Systems Analysis
- Technical/Business Architecture
- IT Project Administration/Management
- Database Design/Development/Administration
- Data Analysis/Data Warehousing
- Business Analysis
- Systems/Network Administration
Business and Management +5%
- Middle/Department Management
- Business Development
- Staff Recruitment/Selection
- Executive Management/Director
- Strategy Consulting
- Infrastructure/Operating Consulting
- Team Leader & Supervisor
- Senior Management
Over the past four months, there has been no significant decline in hiring activity for any job sector, CareerJunction noted.
Provincial differences
Regionally, 54% of job offers are in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape (21%) and KwaZulu Natal (10%).
Recruitment activity for Business & Management professionals increased significantly from 2020 to 2021. While demand further increased from 2021 to 2022, hiring activity is growing at a slower rate.
Demand for Admin, Office & Support professionals has more than doubled in the Western Cape and in KwaZulu-Natal since 2020. The Eastern Cape has also shown a significant increase of 81% in hiring activity for Admin staff since 2020.
Following a surge in recruitment activity between 2020 and 2021, demand growth for Finance professionals has slowed down in the Eastern Cape. However, recruitment activity for Finance professionals in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal continues to grow year-on-year.
CareerJunction highlighted the most in-demand skills across the various provinces, showing the positions that have shown the biggest growth in demand over the last 12 months.
Gauteng
In Gauteng, Bookkeeping has seen the largest growth in demand over the past 12 months, followed by Cost & Management Accounting, Database Design / Development / Administration and IT Project Administration / Management.
- Bookkeeping: +79%
- Cost Management Accounting: +61%
- Database Design/Development/Admin: +60%
- IT Project Admin/Management: +55%
- Internal Auditing: +54%
Western Cape
Accounts Payable / Receivable was by far the fastest-growing job in the Western Cape over the last year, followed by Financial / Project Accounting and IT Project Administration / Management.
- Accounts Payable/Receivable: +70%
- Financial/Project Accounting: +50%
- IT Project Admin/Management: +45%
- Bookkeeping: +42%
- Human Resources: +31%
KwaZulu-Natal
In terms of the fastest growing jobs in KwaZulu-Natal, Account Management, Business Development and Financial / Project Accounting were only a few percentage points apart as the front. runners.
- Account Management: +48%
- Business Development: +48%
- Financial/Project Accounting: +41%
- Senior Management: +26%
- Middle/Department Management: +26%
Eastern Cape
In the Eastern Cape, Admin Clerks have seen the highest growth in demand over the last 12 months, followed by Tool / Die Making and Middle / Department Management.
- Admin Clerk: +36%
- Tool/Die Making: +22%
- Middle/Department Management: +20%
Mpumalanga
In Mpumalanga, Senior Management and Middle / Department Management were the two fastest-growing jobs over the past 12 months.
- Senior Management: +28%
- Middle/Department Management: +21%
Limpopo
Middle / Department Management was the only significant front-runner in terms of the fastest-growing jobs in Limpopo over the past 12 months.
- Middle/Department Management: +92%
North West
Middle / Department Management was the only significant front-runner in terms of fastest-growing jobs in the North West over the last year.
- Middle/Department Management: +72%
Northern Cape
Middle / Department Management was the only significant front-runner in terms of fastest-growing jobs in the Northern Cape over the past 12 months.
- Middle/Department Management: +37%
Free State
Middle / Department Management was the only significant front-runner in terms of fastest-growing jobs in the Free State over the past 12 months.
- Middle/Department Management: +25%
Business and Management
The jobs portal noted significant growth in job opportunities in the business and management sectors of South Africa.
Most of the job hiring for these positions are in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal – although opportunities exist across the country and even in remote-work international positions.
Scarce skills in this sector include:
- Finance Manager
- Business Development Manager
- Sales Manager
- Production Manager
Some market-related salaries applicants can expect in the field include:
- Business Development Consultant: from R22 989 to R30 022 per month
- HR Manager: from R36 946 to R47 593 per month
- Marketing Manager: from R30 573 to R40 247 per month
Read: Big shift in the skills businesses are looking for in South Africa
