Finance and Economic Opportunities
With regard to skills development in the ICT industry:
Whether there is a skills shortage in the ICT sector; if so, how is her Department supporting skills development in this industry?
I am informed of the following:
It is widely accepted that there is an ICT skills shortage, both in the ICT sector and across all sectors which rely on ICT and technology. In 2019, this was quantified at 200,000 technology related job openings in South Africa (SiMODiSA Industry Report 2019), with companies losing up to 6 months before they can find a suitable candidate and acquire the skills that they need. There is a large body of anecdotal evidence that confirms that this is the case in the Western Cape.
The skills shortage being experienced in the ICT sector is due mainly to the mismatch between supply and demand for suitably qualified and experienced technology/digital technologies and professionals, which negatively impacts potential investment. Demand is higher than supply, resulting in the offshoring of work and opportunities as well as the sustainable technology innovation/digital transformation.
There is particularly an acute shortage of individuals with skills in Science, Engineering and Technology qualifications, as well as managers and professionals. Sectors who experience the most intense shortage are education, financial services, the public sector, utilities, and the ICT sector (DHET. 2022. Skills and Supply and Demand in South Africa. Labour Market Intelligence research programme).
How is the Department supporting skills development in the industry:
The Department provides support to the industry through the Skills Development and Innovation Programme, in partnership with the Digital Economy Sub-Programme, to assist with the practical ICT programmes targeting Western Cape youth; particularly unemployed graduates exiting post-schooling institutions by facilitating the partnerships between private sector and academia to produce digital and tech skills.
Further, the Skills Development and Innovation Programme provides support to the ICT industry via the departmental experiential learning programmes partnering with industry and incentivising internship stipends so that young people can gain experience through a combination of structured, accredited and/or vendor skills coupled with incubated on-the-job experiential workplace experience ranging from 4 up to 12 months. The departmental co-funded average stipend amounts to R5 000 per month for youth from diverse backgrounds.
Employers are required facilitate employment for between 70% and 80% of the beneficiaries who complete their internship (dependent on those who are committed and willing to learn) for permanent or contract employment, dependent on the needs of the company. Employers are also required to co-fund towards the monthly stipend as well as fund the formal training offered to the beneficiaries during their placement coupled with ensuring sufficient mentorship capacity in place; particularly in the high-end ICT related skills fields.
During the financial year 2022/2023, the Programme forged partnerships with the 3 lead employers to provide internship opportunities to 38 unemployed youth; mostly unemployed graduates in ICT related fields to develop the relevant and appropriate ICT related experience and skills required by industry.
In this way, internships are valuable to various sectors as they address the skills gap. They can positively contribute to the productivity and competitiveness of these sectors.
The details include:
- Harambee (Digilink Incubator model) – 20 beneficiaries
- Mindworx – 15 beneficiaries; and
- Kinetic Skunk – 3 beneficiaires.
The Programme will continue the partnership with most of these employers to support unemployed youth to access specific industry related skills training and experiential training.
The above support aims to improve workplace productivity by supporting experiential learning, access to practical skills, coupled with industry-led training and experience. This will improve the employability of the beneficiaries and address the industry skills needs that will positively improve workplace productivity and contribute to global competitiveness.
To further support the skills development efforts for the ICT sectors going forward, the Growth for Jobs Strategy, Priority Focus Area: Technology and Innovation and Priority Focus Area: Improved access to economic opportunities and employability (skills and education) has instituted various change strategies to improve education-based and competency-based pathways by implementing strategic interventions to address the skills supply shortage with the aim to ensure the current and future industry skills needs are addressed at scale.
To this end, the Department continues to lead in the coordination between academia and private sectors to strengthen the ecosystem and address the skills mismatches by matching skills that are delivered by learning providers matches the skills required by industry.
The Department is also working in closer collaboration with the Western Cape Education Department to increase support for digital education, skills development to improve access, reach and scale for youth to be able to access digital competencies and career pathways post-schooling into demand-led ranging from cross-cutting ICT and digital entry to highly specialized skills and cross-cutting competencies to support key growth sectors.
Another key relationship is that the Department has fostered and participated in is the TechXit – now called Collective X – programme since 2019. The Collective X is a single national digital skills initiative that seeks to enable the supply chain to deliver the right skills, at the right quality, at the right price through a coordinated ecosystem approach. Their vision is for South Africa to be a digital powerhouse, satisfying local and global demand. Their goal is to ‘10X’ (increase tenfold) the talent pipeline of in-demand digital skills, over the next 10 years.
