Retrenchments at a 10-year high

THE economy shed 36290 jobs last month‚ a 10-year high, Adcorp's employment index showed.

Highly skilled professions stood out as being the only sector in which new jobs were created.

However‚ Loane Sharp‚ labour market economist at Adcorp‚ said yesterday the vacancies could not be filled owing to the skills shortage in South Africa.

"The biggest losses occurred in permanent work‚ which lost 22224 jobs‚ and temporary work‚ which lost 3168 jobs during January‚" Sharp said.

Although all economic sectors shed jobs‚ the most significant job losses were observed in manufacturing (-4.7%) and construction (-9.9%).

"Only high-skilled jobs were created‚ with professionals up 4.7% and management up by 2.1%‚" he said. "While this should be good news‚ this private sector demand has been met with a marked skills shortage."

Sharp attributed the critical skills shortage to the emigration of highly skilled workers‚ immigration restrictions on highly skilled foreigners and a "dysfunctional education system". Employers sought managers and high-level professional graduates, he said.

There are about 470000 vacancies in the private sector – positions that could be filled almost immediately if the skills were available. More than half (52%) of these positions are in management. – BDlive