More graduates set to enter SA job market

With Matric pupils and tertiary students heading towards graduation, it's an opportune time to take stock of the working environment that awaits them and to assess what they need to do to prepare themselves.

A labour force survey released by Statistics South Africa in March 2005 showed a drop in the unemployment rate from 27.9% to 26.5% during the March 2004 to March 2005 period. The result was a gain of 264 000 jobs.

The report also showed Gauteng as the biggest employer among SA's provinces, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The province with the highest unemployment rate was Limpopo with 32.4%.

Entry level job seekers need to recognise that SA operates in a dual economy which can be best described, within this context, as being viewed concurrently as a developed and developing country. The growth indicated in the above statistics may pertain to jobs that cater to the developing sector of the economy; it is important to analyse the statistics in this light. (Find the report at www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0210/P0210March2005.pdf.)

Government has made job creation and unemployment reduction an imperative both on a local and national level as these are essential for economic growth. However, a mismatch has appeared. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka noted that there is a rising number of qualified people whose qualifications are not in demand.

"Unused talent tells us that we need to synchronise our efforts and have a more integrated programme to reduce the duplication of effort," she said at the opening of the 10th annual National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) summit in August 2005.

Entry level career seekers need to understand the job market. It isn't just about gaining skills but gaining the right skill set for the market. A previous CareerJunction report showed that in 2004 the level of careers advertised matched the level of résumés closely. However in 2005 the number of junior candidates outweighed the number of jobs available for them, indicating a decrease in entry-level positions.

Careerseekers should be aware of government reports. New training and learnership opportunities may come to light as well as information on job sectors they may not have considered before.

In conjunction with e-tv, Research Surveys, a marketing insights company, conducted a study amongst a sample of 500 SA adults in metropolitan areas during January 2005. The intention was to look at attitudes around the state of SA education. Sixty-two percent of the respondents agreed that "education in South Africa is in a crisis". An alarming 76% agreed that "a matric certificate doesn't help you get a job".

Getting a job is more than having a certificate. People need to be active careerseekers and work on finding opportunities.

CareerJunction Website statistics reflect a change in the activity of the 18-24 year old age group. A monthly report from Nielsen/NetRating's Red Sheriff, a marketing intelligence company, showed an increase of 10.53% in site registrations in this age group during the June to August 2005 period. In correlation, the number of full-time students increased by 8.1% during the same time period.

This growth indicates that students are gearing up for jobs. This is positive as careerseekers should be constantly checking job adverts.