Bad news for IT jobs in South Africa
Hiring activity in the information technology (IT) sector has declined by 4% over the past three months, according to CareerJunction’s Employment Insights report for September 2023.
Looking at year-on-year performance, hiring activity in the sector has declined significantly since September 2022, with the Western Cape, Gauteng, and the Eastern Cape being hardest hit.
CareerJunction’s Employment Insights report provides an overview of the supply and demand trends in South Africa’s online job market.
The report is based on data collected from around 5,000 of the country’s most prominent recruiters.
“When comparing hiring activity over the last three months with the previous three months, there is a decline in recruitment for Information Technology and Admin, Office & Support professionals,” it reads.
Specifically, the IT sector saw a decline in hiring activity of 4%, and according to CareerJunction, the following roles were advertised less frequently over the past three months:
- IT project administration and management;
- Software development; and,
- Business analysis.
Changes in Information Technology vacancies over time. Source: CareerJunction
Over the past year, the Western Cape has seen the most significant reduction in hiring activity in the IT sector, with a decline of 17%.
Gauteng saw the next-biggest reduction at 8% year-on-year, while IT hiring activity in the Eastern Cape dropped by 5%.
This is despite Gauteng’s recruitment across all sectors being the highest in the country.
The metro contributes 54% of all hiring activity in the country, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal at 21% and 9%, respectively.
The decline in IT hiring activities in these provinces follows a period where demand for IT professionals increased significantly.
“Across Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape provinces, demand for IT professionals increased significantly from June–August 2021 to June–August 2022,” said CareerJunction.
“Since August 2022, however, hiring activity in this sector has decreased year-on-year.”
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