IT job market squeeze in South Africa

While the number of people in South Africa actively looking for a job in the IT sector has increased significantly compared to other industries, hiring activity took a major hit.

This is according to CareerJunction’s Employment Insights report for the first quarter of 2025.

The report noted that South Africa’s overall employment activity, measured in vacancy volumes, increased by 2.9% year-on-year.

However, the IT sector saw the uptake of new candidates decrease by 12% relative to the first quarter of 2024, following a continuous downward trend since the beginning of 2023.

This decrease was the most among the sectors surveyed, with employment activity in business and management roles increasing by 6% and finance roles only decreasing by 3%.

Other parts of the economy that saw increased employment activity were the medical and health sector, as well as the warehousing and logistics sector, by 14% and 12%, respectively.

On the other hand, job seeker engagement in the sector, based on the average number of job applicants per job advert, increased by 10% year-on-year.

This increase also means job applications grew by 23% since the end of 2024.

IT was the only sector in the report to see an increase, with job applications in the business, management, and finance sectors decreasing by 17% and 4%, respectively.

The report also listed the ten highest-paying jobs in South Africa, of which the top four were C-level and management positions.

These positions can earn between R107,089 and R204,167 per month and between R1.5 million and R2 million annually.

Of the ten jobs, one was specific to the IT sector: a senior solutions architect.

According to CareerJunction, Senior solutions architects can earn between R83,201 and R107,520 per month and approximately R1.1 million annually.

Other jobs in the top ten included senior financial managers, sales directors, operations managers, engineering managers, and senior actuaries.

Demand for AI skills picking up

While the IT sector has seen an overall contraction in vacancies in the past year, demand for AI-specific roles in several industries is growing.

That is according to Pnet’s latest Job Market Trends report, which analysed its candidate database to identify which sectors are hiring AI professionals.

The recruitment platform’s data showed that the number of AI professionals securing new positions has nearly doubled, up 96% between Q4 2019/Q1 2020 and Q4 2024/Q1 2025.

Pnet said this is after tracking a staggering 183% increase in AI-related job postings between the first quarter of 2018 and 2024.

“It’s clear that companies across South Africa are ramping up their search for AI talent to stay competitive in a tech-driven economy,” the report stated.

Pnet found that IT companies have led the charge for AI skills recruitment in the past year, accounting for 62% of all AI-related hires. Software and AI development firms were found to be the most active recruiters.

Most of these professionals have an IT background and are experts in software development, data science, or AI-specific technologies.

Approximately 45% of AI professionals are AI developers or engineers, reflecting the sector’s fast-paced evolution.

An additional 27% work as AI trainers, responsible for organising data and verifying AI system outputs—an increasingly vital role as systems are refined for real-world use.

“This is a clear indicator that AI systems are being fine-tuned and getting market-ready as they’re being applied across different fields and applications,” Pnet said.

The rising demand for AI educators and tutors also aligns with the growing need for AI talent in the academic sector.

Meanwhile, in business management, companies are hiring AI consultants and strategic leaders to help guide the implementation of AI within their organisations.