South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday morning in a post-budget seminar that only 7% of matriculants had passed higher grade maths and this had led to a serious lack of quantitative skills in the country.
Manuel said that while four million people were looking for jobs, and there were one million posts available, there was still an undershoot as far as filling these posts went and this related to an incorrect skills set among job seekers.
“Crime fighting is very important, but without forensic experts we won’t be able to fight crime. The public service must employ them, but they are in very short supply around the world,” said Manuel.
“We’ve lost many of these professionals to overseas countries and this needs to be looked at.”
Manuel had highlighted in a pre-budget briefing on Wednesday that there was also a global lack of civil engineers with project-planning experience.
Education remained the largest category of government spending and $6-billion has been set aside to hire additional teachers.
Another key feature is that R2,2-billion will go to subsidies for higher education.
The budget highlights that there is an acute shortage of skilled artisans and Manuel said more graduates in science, technology and engineering were needed.
The demand for planning, industrial and engineering skills had rapidly outpaced supply as South Africa’s economy entered a phase where infrastructure development would become a major driving force. ‒ I-Net Bridge