SOUTH AFRICA DESPERATELY NEEDS THESE SKILLS
- BEE NEWS
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Staff Writer | 27 July 2025
Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth has outlined the top critical skills needed in the country, which the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) is trying to funnel students toward.
Meth has been advocating and pushing skills development as a key solution to South Africa’s persistently high unemployment rate.
South Africa’s unemployment rate is currently 32.9%, meaning one in every three adults in the workforce is without a job.
While some have argued that the rate is much lower in reality—as low as 10%, when factoring in untracked work in the informal sector—Stats SA has stood by its reported figure.
On top of the high unemployment rate, South Africa also has problems with a skills mismatch, where school leavers aren’t getting training in skills the country actually needs, and low absorption rates.
MK Party MP Lehlohonolo Selepe asked the department in a Parliamentary Q&A what critical skills South Africa needs, and whether or not those being trained by government learnership programmes were getting placed in jobs.
Meth noted that it is not her department that determines the skills, as it is a competency within the DHET to assess, review, and develop The National List of Occupations in High Demand (OIHD).
Similarly, the labour department also does not develop or provide training in these skills, as that remains the mandate of the BHET and various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
Nevertheless, Meth said her department does have systems that track these factors and is privy to the most-needed skills and occupations on the Employment Services South Africa (ESSA) database.
The list of high-demand occupations in South Africa
While not a comprehensive list, Meth outlined the highest-demand skills across six critical sectors on the database:
Science & Health
Medical specialists: Psychiatry, Neurology, Oncology, Paediatrics, Pathology (various branches)
Dentistry: Prosthodontics, Oral medicine, Maxillofacial surgery
Nursing: Perioperative, Emergency, Mental health, Nurse educators
Veterinary roles: Veterinarians, Veterinary nurses
Public health professionals
ICT & Engineering
Software developers & programmers
ICT security specialists
Network analysts & systems engineers
Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, and Mining engineers
Mechatronics & Electronics technicians
Naval architects & Aeronautical engineers
Business & Finance
Actuaries
Investment analysts & managers
Corporate treasurers
Internal & external auditors
Market research analysts
Supply chain & distribution managers
Education & Research
University lecturers
Senior phase and FET schoolteachers (Grades 8–12)
Research and development managers
Environmental & Planning
Urban and regional planners
Environmental scientists & managers
Climate change scientists
Oceanographers & hydrologists
Technical & Trade
Millwrights
Lift mechanics
Metal machinists
Instrumentation technicians
Air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanics
The minister said that the fill list of high-demand occupations could be accessed from the DHET. This document was last updated in 2024, and lists 350 occupations that carry a high demand score.
The list was determined through an online survey distributed via e-mail and LinkedIn in which employers and recruiters were asked to list occupations they are likely to recruit for over the next three years.
The number of times a respondent mentioned an occupation and the average level of certainty that respondents assigned to it were used to estimate survey data demand scores that informed the list.
The full list can be found here.
When it comes to the absorption of trained workers, Meth said that information on the ESSA system showed that over 26,600 people who received government training had been placed.
This includes:
Services sector =130
Public Sector = 194
Safety and Security = 5120
Agriculture = 6,733
Manufacturing = 142
Mining = 3
Media and Publishing =871
Local Government = 2,350
Insurance = 109
Information systems = 31
Forestry = 124
Education = 2,731
Construction = 7,982
Banking = 50
Financial = 66
“For those programmes carried out by the DEL Labour Activation Program, all training providers are required to provide employment after training,” she said.
However, she could not confirm the different arrangements and conditions for employment after training for those participating in SETA programmes.
‘Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.