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South Africa, not so bad after all

Predictions last year that the brain drain was coming to an end appear to have been on the mark.
By Iain Scott, ITWeb group consulting editor
Johannesburg, 09 May 2003

The 2003 salary survey indicates that the number of IT workers planning to leave the country has plummeted. While 16% of respondents last year said they were "very likely" to leave, now only 5% say they are going to leave SA in the next 12 months. Another 16% say they might leave the country, compared with 24% last year who said it was "somewhat likely" they might head for other pastures.

<B>IT industry grappling with empowerment</B>

The continued disparity of wages according to race and gender was the most striking issue of ITWeb`s 2003 IT salary survey, according to Colin Smith, a director of Cape Town-based Brenton Blue Consulting and strategic advisor to international IT research organisation, Meta Group.
Smith says this is indicative the industry was grappling to come to grips with empowerment." It is easy to say that the required skills are not there - that is a cop out. Those skills are out there and can be found," Smith says.
The flip side to black economic empowerment and gender equality issues is the continued retention of skilled white people who retain a considerable amount of organisational learning experience.
"There are signs that many white employees are becoming unmotivated by the equity issues and don`t see much future for themselves. But, it is a reality of the country."
Smith says organisations, even if they committed to a BEE programme, should show experienced people that they are still required and that their skills are essential to mentor and encourage new entrants into the industry.
Despite declining IT spending budgets, certain skills or jobs were still being paid a premium, Smith notes. These included programmers for SAP, certain Oracle skills, project managers, those operating I the financial services industry and data base managers.
One of the positive findings of the survey was that the brain drain was showing signs of slowing and even reversing.
"South Africa is now being perceived as a relatively safe place to be and an integral part of the global economy. Despite being grouped with other third world countries in the emerging market bracket, South Africa offers great challenges. However, this means we have to offer remuneration that is on par with global standards, "Smith says.

The main factors driving emigration among IT workers has also changed. Last year money was the main reason to leave SA, with 22.7% of would-be emigrants citing that as the primary factor. Second on the list was experience or career growth, followed by economic considerations, crime and the political climate.

This year crime has become the main reason for people wanting to live overseas, with 27% of would-be emigrants saying this is the driver behind their move. Career prospects and career growth opportunities are in a close second place as the reason cited by 26%. Money and better wealth creation prospects are now cited by only 17%, followed by political considerations (8%).

[CHART]About 8.5% of respondents have applied for a foreign work permit or job during the past year. The most desired destination in this regard is the UK (38% of applications), followed by the US (15%), Australia (12%) and Europe (9%). About 8% of applications were for jobs or work permits in other African countries.

[CHART]Industry recruitment specialists say that not only are fewer people asking for help to find work overseas, but those who left in the past are wanting to come back. Adrian Schofield, GM of The People Business`s recruitment and contracting arm, says his company receives many applications each week from South Africans who want to return.

[CHART]Org Geldenhuys, director of IT recruitment company Abacus Recruitment, confirms the trend. "There are hardly any people coming to us now for assistance in going overseas. In fact, in the past couple of months there has been a 25% surge in people wanting to come back.

He elaborates:" I get calls almost daily from people wanting to come back, mainly from the UK and the States. Last September, for instance, about 20% of our placements were people who had returned to SA."

Geldenhuys says there are various reasons for this, including the fact that the IT market is depressed worldwide and people prefer to be unemployed at home than overseas. Other factors include family commitments, being "tired of the weather" and the fact that contracts have come to an end.

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