Wanted: 37 565 ICT workers

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 07 Apr 2008

The first National Master Scarce Skills List for SA indicates the country has a critical shortage of nearly 40 000 ICT workers.

This morning, the national Department of Labour (DOL) released the master list, in which ICT features prominently as one of the most-needed skills in the country.

This is in contrast with previous efforts to quantify the country's skills shortage.

Within the ICT field, ICT managers, software and applications programmers, and ICT network and support professionals are some of the skills that are highest in demand, all requiring more than 6 000 people to satisfy current demand.

The total figure of professional ICT workers needed is 37 565 and covers areas as diverse as sales, human resources and technical workers.

The national master skills list was drawn up by the DOL by combining information from various Sector Education and Training Authorities, with information from national government departments, such as the departments of Home Affairs, trade and industry, public enterprises, and science and technology.

According to the DOL, the list is intended to assist it with the creation of skills development interventions, as well as to enable the Department of Education to steer students towards these high-demand areas.

It is also a guide for the Department of Home Affairs to draw up quota lists for foreign nationals with the relevant skills. In addition, national targeted interventions, relating to the skills shortage, such as the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition, are also set to benefit from the list.

Previously, government said it would look at importing skills where necessary and even repatriating South Africans who have left the country. While the figures that have been released now are not meant to be the equivalent of a quota list for the importing of skills, it is meant to act as a guideline in drawing up such a list.

Dark times

In the past, the DOL attempted to quantify the skills shortage, specifically as it relates to ICT skills, on numerous occasions, but has consistently failed to do so.

This frustration led it to start setting up a one-of-a-kind mass skills database last year, where all employers would be compelled to register all vacancies and job placements.

At the time, minister of labour Membathisi Mdladlana said government had "generally been shooting in the dark" when it came to quantifying the skills shortage and implementing effective workplace strategies.

While the database project is still in the pipeline, the master skills list is meant to be an indicative catalogue of what the country needs in terms of skills in the short- to medium-term.

Last year, deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said government would "aggressively" target the ICT skills shortage through a number of interventions, including providing incentives for school students to study in science and technology-related fields.

This is as the ICT skills shortage is seen as one of the binding constraints on the country's development, as identified under the deputy president's Accelerated and Shared Growth-SA initiative.

The National Master Scarce Skills List for SA identifies the following critical ICT needs:

* 6 675 ICT managers
* 3 025 call or contact centre managers
* 710 ICT trainers
* 4 320 ICT sales professionals
* 5 555 ICT business and systems analysts
* 35 multimedia specialists and Web developers
* 6 185 software and applications programmers
* 95 database and systems administrators and ICT security specialists
* 6 050 ICT network and support professionals
* 3 790 ICT and telecommunications technicians
* 1 125 ICT sales assistants