MOST IN DEMAND ROLES

Through engagement with employers in the ICT and digital space, Harambee has identified an issue in the sourcing of digital skills and a lack of consistency and understanding of role titles and functions. The research collected detailed information on what roles are in most demand AND what functions employers expect those roles to cover. The findings were plotted and mapped to create a consolidated view of the most in demand job roles, and the functions associated with those roles and skills in the digital and ICT space.

 

The list below provides an indication of the most highly ranked, in demand roles selected by respondents to the survey.

Overall, the top 10 most in demand entry-level job roles included:

Overall, the top 10 most in demand intermediate job roles included:

Overall, the top 10 most in demand advanced job roles included:

The Search Job Roles section contains specific details of the most in demand job roles identified in the Harambee Mapping of Digital and ICT Roles and Demand for South Africa Survey and the expected functions of the roles. It is important to note that many employers have high expectations for entry-level positions. This points to the need to advocate for organisations to be more realistic with regards to job functions and competencies, especially at the entry-level.

Mapping in demand roles enabled Harambee and Genesis GBS | Knowledge Executive to benchmark the demand requirements of participants to this survey against national business growth statistics and macro economic data[1] and to forecast overall, industry-wide demand for digital and ICT jobs across South Africa.

 

As such, our research estimates that there is forecasted demand for 66,000 people in digital and ICT roles in the next year, some of which will be latent demand; of which an estimated ~44,000 are entry-level jobs and suitable for youth.

 

This forecasted demand consists of an estimated 44,200 entry-level jobs (67%), 12,471 intermediate jobs (19%) and 9,156 advanced jobs (14%) that will be required over the next 12 months.

[1] Based on business and economic growth statistics from Stats SA and the SARS Company Tax Statistics Report for 2019.