Lars Fischer says people with digital and tech skills will continue to be in high demand.
Recruitment company Michael Page has released its Q1 2019 South Africa Job Market Survey.
The survey looked at how job seekers are actually feeling about their chances of securing a new role, landing a pay rise or learning new skills, and how positive they feel about the economic situation.
The Michael Page Job Confidence Index, which is a global measure of how optimistic job applicants are about the current employment market, is a quarterly barometer that measures the perception of candidates about their job situation and the labour market. The data is collected on a voluntary basis from candidates who applied for a job offer or submitted their CV on Michael Page.
The survey revealed a few key highlights:
- 56 percent of respondents are not optimistic about the current job market and economic situation, whereas 66 percent believe there will be an improvement in the next six months.
- The top three aspects of their jobs that respondents are most satisfied with include their current industry, level of responsibility and work-life balance.
- According to the respondents, the best three ways to search for jobs are recruitment firms, professional networking platforms and personal networking.
- More than 50 percent of the respondents are looking for a new job, because they want their responsibilities broadened and think their current role isn’t offering opportunities for further development.
The survey also revealed what finance professionals earn annually:
- Group/regional CFOs earn an average annual salary of R4,750,000
- Finance directors earn an average annual salary of R2,750,000
- Finance controllers earn an average annual salary of R945,000
Michael Page South Africa associate director Paul Newman advises that, in order to retain employees in their current job, it is important for companies to chart out a clear career path for each employee.
Michael Page South Africa Operating Director Lars Fischer adds:
“The South African labour market has been unpredictable. Moreover, salaries and bonuses have tended to follow a consistent pattern over the past five years with steady increases to reflect inflationary pressure.”
According to Lars, the reason we are witnessing salary hikes is because, with the Fourth Industrial Revolution upon us, and the government appointing a taskforce to lead South Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Strategy, South African companies are feeling the need to invest in innovation. Careers in robotics, autonomous transport, AI and biotechnology are becoming highly in demand.
People with digital and tech skills will be paramount to the transition of digitisation, and thus continue to command high salaries.
Highly specialised mining related jobs are going to be in demand as the mining industry continues to be valuable for South Africa, and with commodity prices on the rise.
