Recent data from the jobs portal CareerJunction shows the most in-demand jobs in South Africa right now in light of an increase in overall hiring activity.

The company’s latest Industry Report showed that when compared to the year before, December 2022 marked a 3% increase in hiring; however, a 6% decline in hiring from November to December 2022.

According to the group, this was mainly a result of a slowdown in recruitment across the Information Technology and Business & Management sector and the Sales and Admin, Office & Support sectors.

The report offers an in-depth analysis of the online employment market in South Africa, focusing on the supply and demand for various occupations.

The data for the report was gathered from 5,000 of the country’s largest recruiters, agencies, and employers who advertise job positions on the CareerJunction portal.

CareerJunction reported growth in hiring activity in the Architecture & Engineering and Building & Construction sectors over the past three months:

Architecture & Engineering (+15%)

  • Electrical engineerings
  • Other Architecture & engineering

Building & Construction (+16%)

  • Electrician
  • Construction works

The Business & Management, Sales, Information Technology and Admin,
Office & Support sectors have seen the biggest decline in hiring activity over the past three months, reported CareerJunction.

Sales (-8%)

  • Representative/sales consulting
  • Account management

Business & management (-4%)

  • Middle/department management
  • Team leader and supervisor
  • Business development

Admin, office & support (-4%)

  • Teller/ cashier
  • Human resources
  • Switchboard/ Reception
  • Secretary
  • Admin clerk

Information technology (-3%)

  • Software development
  • IT project adminstration/management
  • Database design/development/administration
  • Data analysis/data warehousing
  • Business analysis

Regional differences

CareerJunction also reported that recruitment per province in South Africa remained static.

The group said that Gauteng still offers the majority of South Africa’s job opportunities (55%) as the economic hub of the country.

The following 32% of job offers are in the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal combined. The Western Cape has the second largest percentage at 24%.

Regarding the finance sector, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have consistently grown in demand for finance professionals over the last three years. Gauteng saw a surprising decline in hiring activity for finance professionals at the end of 2021, however, has since bounced back.

“The Western Cape experienced significant growth in hiring activity for admin professionals in 2022, while Gauteng has experienced consistent growth in demand for admin professionals for the last three years,” reported CareerJunction.

“Hiring activity in KwaZulu-Natal increased for admin professionals during Q4:2021 and was at similar levels in Q4:2022,” added the group.

For those based in business and management, the Western Cape saw a slight decrease in hiring activity in the last quarter of 2022 – being marginally lower than a year ago.

“KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have seen consistently growing demand for business & management professionals over the last three years,” reported Career Junction.


Building and Construction

CareerJunction further highlighted significant job opportunity growth, mostly in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

It reported that scarce skills in the sector include:

  • Site managers
  • Project engineers
  • Estimators

Some market-related salaries applicants can expect in the field include:

  • Site supervisor – (R13,528 to R20,097 per month))
  • Quantity surveyor – (R32,434 to R45,689 per month)
  • Construction project manager – (R35,159 to R55,118 per month)