Staff Reporter
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, has launched the Labour Market Intelligence Research Reports on Skills Needs for the Economy.
Several of these reports are pivotal for understanding skills supply and demand in South Africa. These include the following:
The List of Occupations in High Demand lists occupations in high demand in South Africa. This list is intended to support enrolment planning at our PSET institutions, resource prioritisation (as in the allocation of funds for bursaries), career information and qualifications development;
The report on the Critical Skills List identifies occupational shortages in South Africa. The Department of Home Affairs uses it to inform the implementation of its Critical Skills Visa regime.
The report on Skills Gaps in South Africa identified skills gaps in the labour market, such as foundational, technical, and soft skills. This assessment considers all the skills that will be required across all segments of the emerging green hydrogen value chain. It also includes the identification of skills gaps and possible interventions to bridge them so that the country can participate in the global hydrogen economy.
Thus far, the project has identified 138 occupations required within the value chain, categorised into engineers, technicians, tradespersons, specialists, managerial occupations, and elementary-level occupations.
“Many of these occupations currently exist in our economy, but some will require top-up skills or new qualifications in order to include green hydrogen capabilities,” the Minister said.
He added that the most required capabilities include hydrogen properties, behaviour and potential hazards created safety when working with or around hydrogen, knowledge of hydrogen-related regulations, standards, and codes, and understanding of electrochemical reactions, processes, and hydrogen production processes.
The report further highlights 27 occupational qualifications currently offered by various training providers and funded by our SETAs (particularly CHIETA and EWSETA) linked to the 39 technicians and tradespersons’ occupations identified as critical for the hydrogen economy.
However, these occupational qualifications currently do not include hydrogen-specific capabilities and must be augmented to address the gaps.
The hydrogen report also identified areas requiring augmentation in TVET and University Curricula and reflected on the need for capacitating teachers and lecturers so that they can train South Africa’s green hydrogen workforce for the many occupations identified in the project.
The report discusses some interventions that could be used to ‘train the trainers.’ It also includes an assessment of workplace-based learning (WBL) opportunities available in South Africa and internationally for green hydrogen–related work.
This assessment highlights that, in contrast to developed countries such as Germany and due to the sector’s nascence in South Africa, there are limited opportunities available for green hydrogen-specific WBL in the country.
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