An analysis of the South African job market for April 2024 has revealed the top five most in demand jobs. Picture: Freepik
A perceived shortage of skills in the Information Technology sector may have contributed to two of the five most in demand jobs in South Africa coming from the sector.
According to the Pnet Job Market Trends report for April 2024, employers are having a difficult time filling in vacancies Information Technology sector.
The trends report said IT jobs in business analysis and data analysis/data warehousing were among the most in demand.
Other IT job positions that were hard to fill include: Database Design/Development/Administration; Software Development; Systems Analysis; Technical/Business Architecture; UX/GUI Design.
Software development has been on the top of the scarce skills list for many years.
In recent times, demand for software developer dropped, which relieved the severity of skills shortage to a certain point, however, employers are still face problems when filling in software developer positions.
There has been a similar trend for systems analysis professionals, where the severity of the skills shortage has slightly eased over the last two years.
On the other hand, filling in database design/administration positions as well as technical architects or UX/GUI designers has become harder over the last year.
Other jobs that are also in demand include: safety and environment jobs; executive management jobs; and building project management jobs.
Year-on-year, there has been a decrease in hiring activity. The report showed that hiring activity decreased 19%, compared to March 2023.
The trend for the two-year comparison is the same with recruitment activity declining 19% compared to March 2022.
Building & Construction and Architecture & Engineering, the top two trending sectors shows year-on-year growth remain the same as those in the previous month.
Hiring activity in the Building & Construction sector increased by 8% when comparing Q12023 and Q12024. Although hiring activity was lower over the past few months of 2024, quarterly hiring activity remains higher than a year ago.
Hiring activity in the Architecture & Engineering sector increased by 7% when comparing Q1:2023 and Q1:2024.
While hiring activity decreased in this year, the overall trend remains positive with more quarterly employment opportunities than there were a year ago.
A snapshot of the information technology, the job sector with the most in demand job, shows that people that have jobs in this sector stay in their jobs on average for three years and two months.
66% of people that work in the Information Technology sector live in Gauteng while 48.7% of people are willing to relocate and 62% of people in this sector are male.
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