Skills shortage could affect development projects

The current shortage of skilled labour in South Africa may affect the country's ability to implement long-term development projects, human resource experts warned on Tuesday.

Dr Simon McGrath of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) cautioned that unless the labour authorities sought ways to improve skills development programmes and stem the exodus of professionals, implementing large-scale projects could require the "import of foreign workers to meet the demand".

After its successful bid for the soccer World Cup, a number of large construction projects are expected to roll out and be completed before 2010.

"One of the biggest challenges for the government is to find ways of keeping skilled South Africans at home. Undertaking this, coupled with increasing workplace learnerships, will likely improve the current skills shortages but, clearly, what is needed now is a comprehensive strategy that deals with ongoing unemployment, at the same time increasing efforts to improve skills," McGrath told IRIN.

He added the current lack of skilled workers could be attributed to the decline in apprenticeships and the "poor quality" of technical training at colleges. Research has shown a decline in apprenticeships from 29,800 in 1986 to 16,500 in 1998.

Last year the HSRC estimated that current skills shortages in most South African professions were in the region of 3 percent to 4 percent. Although the figure was not "significant", McGrath said, a broad range of skills was still needed across all sectors.

"There is much talk of a skills crisis in South Africa, but the research indicates that the shortages are not as dramatic as is made out to be. It is fairly easy to generate skills, for example, in the small business environment and call centres, but the difficulty is enhancing skills needed at a higher level," he noted.

Official statistics indicate that over the past decade the greatest mobility of highly skilled people, both in to and out of South Africa, has been among those in education, followed by engineers and architects.

The National Skills Authority (NSA) has said the shortage of engineers and artisans was being addressed by government and private initiatives. The NSA was established in 1998 and comprises representatives from organised business, labour and the government, for the purpose of formulating and implementing a national strategy to develop workplace skills.

NSA chairperson Danisa Baloyi told IRIN: "In some sectors we do have an over-capacity, but there are programmes in place to address the skills shortages in those areas which are lacking. Presently, all of the parastatals and some companies have in place workplace training programmes to address these shortages. The lack of industrial engineers is not particular to South Africa but a worldwide problem, that is why Britain and the United States has poached our local talent."

She highlighted that South African construction companies were "more than equipped" to handle preparations for the World Cup in 2010, and that "because of the huge number of building companies, many had decided to merge to deal with the demand".

"One of the areas which we need to focus on now is the service industry, in view of the number of visitors we can expect in 2010," Baloyi said. "However, we have partnered with international skills development agencies to ensure that, by the time the World Cup happens, we have the necessary skills in South Africa to do the job ourselves."