Jobs: These are the sectors professionals are finding work in SA
Picking a career to study towards or even switching careers is never an easy choice as you not only need to consider your passion and talents but be realistic about your chances of gaining employment – unless, of course, you plan to start your own business.
It is therefore helpful to keep an eye on job market trends to see what roles are needed in South Africa’s economy and which are falling out of favour.
CareerJunction’s latest Employment Insights Report, for example, reveals that recruitment for professionals in the fields of restaurant and hospitality, architecture and engineering, finance, and business and management, increased from September to November 2023.
On the other hand, hiring activity for sales, information technology, and admin, office, and support professionals declined.
While recruitment activity from October to November 2023 was only up by one percent, the report states that year-on-year hiring activity in November was at the same level as the previous year.
When comparing recruitment patterns for professionals during September, October, and November 2023 with the previous three months (June, July, August 2023), data shows these increases and decreases:
Restaurant and hospitality
– Counter, waiter, bartender, food and beverage control
– 40 percent increase
Architecture and engineering
– Civil engineering, structural engineering
– 6 percent increase
Finance
– Payroll and wages, bookkeeping, financial and project accounting
– 3 percent increase
Business and management
– Infrastructure and operations consulting, business development
– 1 percent increase
Sales
– Sales rep, sales consulting
– 8 percent decrease
Information technology
– Software development, business analysis
– 7 percent decrease
Admin, office, and support
– Switchboard, reception
– 2 percent decrease
Sectors where professionals are looking for jobs
The report shows that there was significant growth in candidates signing up to search and apply for jobs in these sectors
Legal
– Drafting and paralegal; prosecutor/advocate; legal advisory
Restaurant and hospitality
– Counter/waiter/bartender; chef/cook
Science and technology
– Earth/geo scientist; environmental scientist; other science and technology
Provinces with most job opportunities
– Gauteng: 51 percent
– Western Cape: 23 percent
– KwaZulu-Natal: 10 percent
– Eastern Cape: 5 percent
– Mpumalanga, North West: 2 percent
– Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo: 1 percent
Willingness to relocate for job opportunities
The report also found that almost 70 percent of South African job seekers are willing to relocate for a new job. However, they are “significantly less likely” to leave the country.
“Only 26 percent (one in four) are willing to move to another country for employment.”
CareerJunction also investigated some of the factors contributing to high or low mobility of job seekers, and discovered that job seekers aged 21 to 30 showed the highest willingness to relocate for work, with 75 percent prepared to move. However, only 30 percent of job seekers stated that they would move within South Africa for a job opportunity.
Interestingly though, the willingness to relocate internationally increases with age.
Similarly, while it is evident that less experienced job seekers are more willing to relocate within the country for a job than highly experienced job seekers – with almost 80 percent prepared to do so, those with more work experience are more willing to relocate internationally for work, but not within South Africa.
Looking at provincial trends, the report states that job seekers in the Western Cape and Gauteng show the lowest local mobility of job seekers. When it comes to international relocation, however, job seekers in these two provinces have the highest mobility rate.
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