We want to stay

Johannesburg, 21 Apr 2005

In a departure from surveys in previous years, respondents were not merely queried about the likelihood of their leaving the country within 12 months - instead, we wanted to know if they have seriously considered leaving. Consequently, less than half of the permanently employed respondents answered the question.

[CHART]Of those, 74% said "no", some 17% said "maybe", 13% didn`t know, and only 6% said "yes".

The seriousness of their intention to leave was further measured based on whether they had applied for foreign work permits or jobs. A mere 6.5% of IT professionals participating in this year`s survey have applied for overseas jobs or for foreign work permits. Of those, 38% applied to work in the UK, 13% in the US, 11% in the Middle East, 10% in Australia and 8% in Europe.

Another interesting outcome of the Salary Survey 2005 is evidence of a growing number of respondents citing improved career prospects or career growth opportunities as their reason for intending to leave South Africa. Nearly a third of respondents who plan to work overseas (31%) cited improved career prospects as their reason for leaving, up from 27% of respondents last year.

Conversely, the number of respondents citing crime and violence has decreased yet again: this year, 23% of those surveyed, in comparison with 25% last year, credited safety concerns as their reason for leaving.

Contractors` choice

[CHART]Just over 3% of contractors, who constituted 12% of the sample of respondent IT professionals, indicated that they intend to leave South Africa, while 26% indicated that they might do so.

Their main reason for leaving were the same as those for permanently employed IT professionals, namely career prospects and career growth opportunities (40%).

Worth noting, though, is that money and better wealth-creation prospects were cited as the second-most important reason for leaving by 13% of respondents. Concerns about crime and violence were rated third highest in this category, followed by concerns about politics and government policies. B

We want to stay

Fewer IT professionals want to leave the country. Those who do plan to emigrate say they are leaving to advance their careers, rather than because of crime.

Contractors` choice