Slindile Khanyile

The ADCORP employment index for April released yesterday shows a monthly successive growth in the number of people finding jobs.

However, at 1.8 percent, the increase in April was lower than the 5.6 percent rise recorded in March.

The growth in April happened mainly in the high skilled occupations, while employment continued to decline in the low-skilled jobs such as elementary and domestic work.

In March, employment had increased across the board.

Adcorp labour market analyst Loane Sharp said although last month’s increase was marginal, it was the second monthly rise in a row, signalling that employment would pick up in the next nine to 12 months as the economic recovery was under way.

Sharp believed that about 230 000 people would find jobs in the highly skilled arena within the next year.

According to the index, there are 829 800 unfilled positions for highly skilled workers across occupations including senior management.

The professions listed as those in need of highly skilled individuals are medicine, engineering, accounting, law, specialised technicians, artisans and agriculture.

“The unemployment rate in the highly skilled occupations is 0.4 percent, so it is almost non-existent,” Sharp said.

Economists agreed with Sharp that employment growth was imminent, but they emphasised that it would be marginal.

Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim said the recovery was fragile as there were many lingering threats that made businesses cautious when making investments.

“The next 12 months will at best be stabilisation where the unemployment rate anchors around 25 percent. Any job gains will be modest and matched by a small number of previously despondent individuals who will seek employment again,” Ballim said.

The Industrial Development Corporation’s chief economist, Lumkile Mondi, said that indications were positive, but it would be a challenge to return to the employment levels seen before the financial crisis two years ago.

The Immigration Act of 2002 had contributed to the skills shortage in the highly skilled segment, Sharp said.

“It severely limited companies’ ability to import skills and in April 2011, further amendments were made and immigration agents were banned by the Home Affairs Department.

“The quota work permits were outlawed and every foreigner now needs to apply on a case-to-case basis,” Sharp said.

He said about 400 000 of those professionals who were needed to fill the 829 300 vacant positions in the highly skilled occupations would probably need to be imported.

On the other hand, the index showed that 967 600 elementary workers and 247 400 domestic workers were in excess of the nation’s needs.

This was because of union demands and labour legislation such as minimum wages, causing wage levels for unskilled workers to increase at significant rates making job seekers unaffordable to companies, Sharp said.