Over the last two years, significant declines in hiring activity have been evident within South Africa’s IT sector.
This is according to online recruitment firm Pnet in its Job Market Trend Report for September 2024. The Pnet Job Market Trends Report has been created and interpreted by the firm’s expert team of data insights specialists.
The report is based on empirical data sourced from The Stepstone Group South Africa’s online recruitment platforms, which currently hold a combined database of over nine million registered users.
Pnet notes that year-on-year, the IT sector has seen a decline of 31%, and over the past two years (August 2022 to August 2024), and recruitment activity in this sector has decreased by 33%.
However, it adds, after hiring activity for IT professionals plummeted in Q1:2024, there has been an improvement in recruitment activity and demand has slightly increased.
Pnet explains that the decrease in local demand for IT professionals has been fuelled by the global trend of tech layoffs.
Retrenchments and job cuts by global giants in the IT sector were first announced at the end of 2022, it notes, adding that companies like Google, Amazon and Meta (Facebook) reduced their tech staff counts significantly back then.
“This trend has continued and is still very prevalent in 2024. Google and Amazon are still on the list when it comes to tech layoffs, but other companies like Tesla, TikTok, Microsoft and other companies are also decreasing their tech staff size in 2024,” says the online recruitment firm.
Similarly, the CareerJunction Employment Insights Report for Q3 2024 published last week found that despite the continuous decline in hiring activity for IT roles, demand for IT professionals remains very high in the recruitment market.
After a slight uptake of 4% in hiring activity from Q1:2024 to Q2:2024, CareerJunction says IT job recruitment activity dropped by 3% in the third quarter of the year.
Year-on-year, there has been a 17% decrease in hiring activity for IT roles (Q3:2023 to Q3:2024), it notes.
CareerJunction has been tracking skills shortages over time. Based on demand for labour and supply of labour, it says it is evident that skills gaps have become more severe in some professions and less severe in others.
It points out that technical IT architects are highly sought after. “Recruiting for these professionals has been challenging due to a limited supply pool over the last few years.
“Over the last five years, technical / business architecture represents one of the most crucial skills gaps, while over the last two years, IT architecture has become the number one skills gap in the recruitment market.”
It notes that demand for medical technologists and clinical technologists (including nurses within the clinical technology field) increased substantially (32%) over the last six months.
“However, filling those vacancies appears challenging considering the elevated demand for professionals. The launch for the MedTechMaster Plan to enhance the competitiveness of the medtech sector may have fuelled the increase in demand for medical technologists.”
The MedTechMaster Plan, which provides frameworks and market growth initiatives, was launched in May 2024.
“When comparing the top 10 professions with skill gaps in 2019 and 2024, it is evident that the IT, finance, engineering and medical & health professions have experienced the biggest skills gaps in the five-year period,” says the online jobs portal.
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