ISETT Sector Skills Plan Executive Summary 2000/1

Introduction and background The SSP is a view of the sector for current and future skills needs This document is a “best effort” since there are a number of challenges facing the SETA and thus impacting on data collection to produce this document The plan was done based on an outline done by DoL (October 2000) Plan done in consultation with industry players from the three sub sectors

Challenges to the sector Fast changing technology Majority of South Africans are illiterate, poor and/or unemployed Society divided into both 1 st and 3 rd World in terms embracing technology HIV Aids affecting economically active group

Sector Profile ISETT is made of IT, Telecomms and Electronics sectors Majority of skilled people in the sector are white males 72,7% in management while unskilled majority are black males 58.79% Usually, workers in NQF 4-6, although there are people in NQF 1 particularly in the Telecomm sector. Majority of companies are SMME’s (depending on definition - >150 workers Majority of companies concentrated in Gauteng province, followed by WC and KZN

Sector Profile Salaries usually higher than other sectors due to skills scarcity, poaching etc HIV/AIDS on the rise (estimeted workers could be HIV positive)

Factors influencing change Number of legislations affect the sector Employment equity and Skills development Telecommunications act (competition E-commerce green paper ( taxation, trade, security, boundaries etc) DTI’s SAITIS project Globalisation issues (Dot-com shakeout in 2000) SMME’S – The growth and sustainability of SMME’s will increase employment rates and

Factors influencing change Social factors Unemployment high for general population but there is a need for skilled workers in the 3 sub sectors. There is a trend for workers to subcontract The 3 rd cellular licence, SNO have created more jobs Technological Change / Trends Services on e-business, M-Commerce, ASP market to grow, Companies to gain access to global markets, Establishment of e-marketplaces

Factors influencing change Growth of Internet and e-commerce, Convergence of technologies, Outsourcing, decrease in H/W and increase in S/W, Contracting by workforce Skills gap – Gap between skills that workforce has and skills required by the industry Brain drain – Immigration by skilled personnel especially in this sector poses a challenge

Factors influencing change Poverty Poverty levels are high and the SETA can contribute in addressing these with ABET programmes Rural development Most companies are in urban areas. SMME’s establishment and support in these areas will stimulate skills development

Current education and training supply Current poor supply of Maths and Science HG students makes it difficult to recruit for Engineering degrees in the sector Output of Universities – skills usually not relevant to industry needs Insufficient numbers of university students who do engineering courses Relevance and effectiveness of in-hose company training is difficult to assess

Sector development strategy … It has been identified that for a good sector development strategy we need to address the following Develop a skilled labour force. Develop a culture for innovation Be aware of ICT expenditure Encourage ICT social investment Encourage IT R& D Encourage an increase in expenditure on Training

Sector development strategy To specifically address human resources development we have to address the following: “SAITIS Project” Bring disadvantaged communities into the mainstream of ICT development and use Have a comprehensive understanding of the SA ICT labour market Establish environment to retain skilled workers Establish HR development infrastructure to support ICT development Establish ICT innovation, entrepreneurs and risk management culture

Employment and skills needs - IT In order to establish some vacancy data the SETA established some survey and these are the findings: (Please note that these are based on a small sample and the actual skills audit is not complete. These are also biased towards the IT sector)

Employment and skills needs -IT Job Category% growth No. possible job opps Top management(policy makers) Snr management(policy implementers) Professionals,specialists,middl e management Skilled technicians Sales and marketing Admin and accounts82277

Employment and skills needs -IT The ff categories are forecasted to have the highest growth: (SAITIS baseline studies) Data communications and networking (75%) End User Computing (23.82%) H/W and Computer architecture (42%) Information systems and technology mngt (80%) IT sales and marketing (63%) Systems development (90%)

Employment and skills needs- Telecommunications The ff categories are forecasted to have the highest growth:(Source- DoC) Electrical / electronic engineer (50%) Electronic/ electrical engineer technologist (89%) Telecommunications technologist (88%)

Employment and skills needs-Electronics Please note that due to convergence of technology, needs by the electronics sector have might be the same as those of IT and telecomms sector. (There was no specific information available on the sector at the time of print)

Employment and skills needs-Summary To list jobs that are high in demand and low in availability this is the summary Senior management Sales and marketing Software development( Java,C++ etc) Internet / Website development(HTML,ASP,VB) E-Commerce/ Internet security Project management Customer service and support (CRM) especially in the telecomms and electronics sectors

Employment and skills needs-Summary Systems engineer Software engineer Technology strategist Radio Frequency planner Product manager Tenders manager Transmission engineer

Skills oversupply Although there is no data available, anecdotal evidence shows that there is an oversupply of the ff: MCSE A+ Especially with regard to those courses that did not entail a practical component

Grant D – Addressing skills needs To have a comprehensive list of skills that are needed in the subsectors refer to SSP document downloadable from The lists are on pg 97-98

SMME development Approximately 98% of companies in ISETT are SMME’s (def: company employing less than 150 people) More SMME’s in IT environment that telecomms and electronics Action plan to address SMME needs outlined in the SSP document (pg )

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