South Africa’s ranking in terms of skills development has dropped significantly in the past year, with 31% of local employers participating in a talent shortage survey noting that they have difficulty filling vacancies.

In 2014, the country ranked fourth overall in the international survey, with only 8% of employers noting a disparity.

The country’s ranking dropped to 30 out of 41 countries surveyed this year.

Human resource consulting firm ManpowerGroup’s tenth yearly Talent Shortage Survey also found that skilled trades and engineering remained the most difficult positions for companies to fill.

Globally, employers in Japan reported the greatest talent shortages, with 83% of employers struggling to fill open positions. At the other end of the scale, employers in Ireland reported the least problems with talent shortages, with only 11% of employers struggling to fill vacancies.

The research also showed that vacancies for skilled trade workers continued to be the most difficult to fill in South Africa, for the fourth consecutive year.

In second place, engineering positions were most difficult to fill, followed by management and executive positions in third place.

In fourth place, moving down one position, was technicians, while drivers were in fifth place from tenth place last year. The management/executives category was in sixth place, followed by accounting and finance staff. Secretaries, personal assistants, administrative assistants and office support staff came in at eight, while information technology staff were in ninth place.

Production and machine operators took tenth place, , moving up from twelfth place last year and replacing the sales manager category.

“With unemployment in the country remaining high, it is surprising that employers continue to have difficulty filling positions. South Africa’s continued skills deficit is being compounded by a lack of technical skills, which is having a negative impact on employment across many sectors of the country’s economy.

“There is [also] a high instance of poverty among South African youth, leaving millions unable to pursue secondary and tertiary education or training, which presents a challenge in terms of their skills development and employment prospects,” Manpower South Africa MD Lyndy van den Barselaar said.

South African employers were asked how much difficulty they were having filling vacancies compared with the same period last year, to which 75% said they were experiencing similar difficulty, 16% were experiencing less difficulty and 6% were experiencing more difficulty.

When asked why they were having difficulties filling vacandies, 52% of local employers cited environmental or market factors, 47% a lack of technical competencies or hard skills and 46% a lack of available applicants or no applicants at all for the position.

Further, 30% of South African employers cited the lack of industry-specific qualifications or certifications in terms of skilled trades as a challenge, while 26% cited a lack of candidate experience.

About 19% of employers identified organisational factors as an issue, while 15% cited industry-specific qualifications and certifications in terms of professionals as a challenge.

When asked what kind of impact the talent shortage was having on their availability to meet client needs, 22% of South African employers said a high impact, 46% indicated a medium impact, 21% a low impact and 10% no impact.

Talent shortages and skills gaps were most likely to impact organisations in the sense that 68% of local employers said it would reduce their ability to serve their clients, 58% said it would reduce their productivity and competitiveness and 57% said it was likely to result in higher compensation costs.

Meanwhile, 49% cited reduced innovation and creativity, while 46% cited lower employee engagement or morale and 44% said it was likely to result in higher employee turnover.

“Owing to the effects the skills deficit is having across industries, organisations are having to find new and innovative ways to face the challenge, to reduce the negative effects on their businesses,” Van den Barselaar explained.

Forty-four per cent of South African employers said they would be adopting people practices, while 36% said they would be exploring new talent sources when asked what strategies they were pursuing to overcome the difficulties created by the skills shortage.

Meanwhile, 31% said they would be providing additional training and development to existing staff, while a further 29% said they would focus on developing new skills.

Twenty-eight per cent of employers said they were focusing on enhancing existing skills within the organisation, while 25% said they would appoint people who do not currently have the necessary skills, but have potential to learn and grow.

“To effectively tackle the skills deficit, it is imperative that provincial government, together with the public and private sectors, continue to support skills training and development.

“This is not only important for those wanting to enter the job market but also for existing employees, as technology in the workplace is rapidly evolving and requires all employees to constantly up-skill,” Van den Barselaar concluded.