There is still an information and communications technology (ICT) skills shortage in SA, and up to 165 000 students will be needed each year to address this.
These are the findings of a skills audit conducted by the Information Systems Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies (ISETT) Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA), in partnership with the Department of Labour.
The skills audit was undertaken to describe and quantify the ICT labour base in SA and assess skills shortages and gaps to help improve human resource development and planning. It included 1 853 companies in the ISETT database and 196 companies in a sample database.
The audit found that the ISETT sector employs about 212 200 people, with 186 400 defined as ICT users (those who use computers as an integral part of their daily work). The non-ISETT sector has about 7.3 million employees, 1.9 million of whom use a computer as an integral part of their daily work.
A total of 5 720 vacancies exist in the ISETT sector - 3.1% of the ISETT ICT workforce. The total annual ICT workforce requirement for SA is about 74 500.
Using an average completion rate across various training providers of 53%, combined with an attrition rate of 15%, the supply side of ICT users will need to take in about 165 500 students to meet the demand.
ISETT reports that because the industry is evolving at a rapid rate, employees constantly need their skills upgraded. The audit found that in the ISETT sector, employees need up to 25% upgrading in their current skill level.
It said the ICT skills required both within the ISETT sector and the non-ISETT sector were similar, and recommended that technical design and development, manufacture and programming, testing, repair, maintenance, analysis, database administration, soft skills and general user skills be provided.
In line with the 2002 ITWeb Salary Survey, the skills audit found that upper levels of staff were overwhelmingly young, white males. The overall gender ratio of ICT users within the ISETT sector is 33% female and 67% male, compared with 56% male and 44% female in the non-ISETT sector.
The racial segmentation of ICT users within the ISETT sector is 63% white, 20% black, 9% Indian and 8% coloured. Most (68%) of employees have been with their current employer for over two years. Only 31% of employees in the ISETT sector do not intend working overseas.
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