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Recruitment & Selection

Driving growth and employment in SA

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:07

The global recovery in growth has not brought about a comparative recovery in employment according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

We need a two-pronged approach to address this anomaly, says Sandra Burmeister, CEO of the Landelahni Recruitment Group. “We need to focus on increasing support to small-medium businesses to boost job creation and absorb excess skills, and we need to increase technical and professional skills as drivers for growth and employment.”

The IOL 2011 employment trends report shows that the global employment-to-population ratio has dropped over the past four years, with two-thirds of the 64 countries surveyed not generating enough employment to absorb growth in the working age population.

In South Africa, unemployment increased by half between 1994 and 1999 from 4m to 6m thereafter remaining in the 6-7m range, with about one third consisting of discouraged work seekers.

“The SME sector plays a crucial role in most economies, frequently accounting for up to 50% of total employment and 30% of manufacturing output,” says Burmeister. “Even during the recent recession, the SME sector globally has registered a higher growth rate than the national average. SMEs generate higher job creation than large enterprises at lower capital cost.

“In South Africa, there has been a myriad of incentives for micro-enterprises over the past few years. However, we need more emphasis on increasing small-medium enterprise (SME) support, for businesses in the R20-R30m turnover range, employing 50-plus employees, if we are to increase job creation and absorb excess skills.

“The Industrial Development Corporation’s R10bn scheme to facilitate job creation is a step in the right direction, with funding starting at R1m and available up to R1b. Also to be welcomed is the rollout of the National Treasury's R9bn Jobs Fund, which aims to create 150 000 jobs over three years by supporting innovative job creation projects that target the youth and the unemployed.”

However, to foster economic growth, Burmeister believes the country also needs the appropriate professional and technical skills. “When it comes to increasing scarce skills, the only real long-term solution is to increase the pipeline of entry-level skills into critical areas,” she says.

“In order to ensure we have enough of the right kinds of skills, we must improve the quality of information in respect of the type of engineers and artisans we need to meet the demands of our growth industries. For example, over the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of graduate electrical engineers, but is this in fact where the demand lies or do we need more mechanical engineers or mining engineers?

“The same applies to artisans. We don’t know, for example, how many fitters and turners we should be training, nor how many are likely to retire over the next five years. Improving our insight into the age and skills of the current population is vital if we are to provide training in relevant skills.

“This extends to the role of the further education and training (FET) colleges and other educational institutions that have tended to focus on short courses instead of preparing people for a productive role in the workplace. We need to align training programmes with industry’s needs to ensure we are developing the right sort of skills to be absorbed into the market.”