Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande has published the 2024 National List of Occupations in High Demand in South Africa which highlights the most sought-after jobs.
The Minister published the list in a gazette notice dated 15 April 2024. It was first published in 2014 and has been updated in 2016, 2018 and 2020. The next update is expected in 2026.
Nzimande also launched the list at a press briefing on Wednesday (17 April). He said the document “is intended to support enrolment planning at our PSET [Post-Secondary Education and Training] institutions, resource prioritisation (as in the allocation of funds for bursaries), career information and qualifications development.”
2024 list of jobs in high demand
The list’s aim is to “improve the responsiveness of the Post-School Education and Training System to the needs of the economy and to the broader developmental objectives of the country,” the notice states. It also serves as a career guidance for learners and job seekers.
“Occupations in high demand refer to those occupations that show comparatively strong employment, wage and vacancy (job advertisement) growth and for which employers are likely to recruit in the medium term,” the notice explains.
The jobs cut across most economic sectors and have varying minimum required qualifications, ranging from bachelor’s degrees, diplomas, certificates to “no formal qualification required.”
A total of 350 jobs are listed, from managerial positions to specialist roles such as chemists, geologists, biotechnologists, mathematicians and civil engineering technologists.
Occupations that require no formal qualifications include deck hand, forklift driver, loader and scraper operators, and seed processing machine operator, among others.
You can download the full National List of Occupations in High Demand here.