Labour market contrast creates opportunities for young people furthering their studies: Solidarity announces top 10 professional fields

The trade union Solidarity said today there are thousands of job opportunities for young people who regard their matric certificate as the beginning of tertiary study in fields in which shortages exist. In a report on job prospects for matrics the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) today warned that matrics who choose to ignore further studies will find it hard to secure a job. The labour market absorption rate of people with only grade 10 is about 30% as against 50% for people with matric, while the rate for those with a tertiary qualification may reach 80%. The trade union also identified ten professional fields, some with severe shortages, and would encourage matriculants to obtain qualifications in these fields.

Flip Buys, general secretary of Solidarity, said an interesting contrast existed in the South African labour market. "South Africa has a huge unemployment problem but, at the same time, a huge skills shortage in certain professional fields. Despite the many (poorly trained) jobless people, there are some 500 000 vacant positions in the economy. They remain unfilled because there are not enough suitably trained people."

According to the report, people with matric (or an equivalent qualification) as highest training level now comprise just more than 26% of the adult population as against 21,5% in 2002, while the proportion of people with tertiary training has widened from 9,2% to 11,2% of the adult population. "Although more young South Africans are now completing secondary and tertiary training than before, a great many young people still leave the school system before completing matric. Fewer than half of the grade ones who started their school career in 1999 have enrolled for the matric exams within 12 years. Moreover, the robust growth in the percentage of people who have started with secondary training without completing it is tragic," Buys said.

Meanwhile unemployment among young people is expected to rise in the years to come. "Every year many more people reach working age than those retiring or who stop working because of other reasons. For the number of jobless people to remain unchanged, approximately 430 000 new, viable job opportunities should arise annually. However, from the third quarter of 2010 to the corresponding period in 2011 the increase came to only some 340 000. Therefore, the number of jobless people (in terms of the broad definition) rose marginally in 2011, even though the broad unemployment rate has dropped from 36,4% to 36%.

"So there is hope for especially matrics who wish to study further. Matrics should not regard the end of matric as the end of his or her learning path but rather as the beginning. A matriculant who would take the trouble of qualifying in a scarce skill is practically sure of employment. The golden formula then is not only furthering one's studies but to do so in the right field. Such matriculants can look forward to a bright future."

Solidarity has meanwhile identified ten professional fields in which there are still severe shortages and which offer the matriculants of 2011 bright professional prospects. "Matriculants will find attractive job opportunities in accounting, information technology, education, social work, management, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, as well as the medical (doctors) and technical professions, exactly because there are substantial shortages in these professions. Matriculants who enter any of these study fields would be able to pursue both local and international opportunities. These are the professional fields that could ensure a bright future for matriculants," Buys explained.     

Read Solidarity's report. Click here.

Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, Deputy general secretary: Solidarity, January 10 2012

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