In the global economy it is important to understand the types of education and skills required to support societal development and a productive and inclusive growth path. Since 1994, there have been efforts to plan for skills needs, but these efforts were fragmented and the performance of this skills planning mechanism was imperfect. Government priority outcome 5.1.1 is to ‘establish a credible institutional mechanism’, and thus highlights the importance of the research conducted by the Labour Market Intelligence Partnership.
This investment to establish a credible skills planning mechanism for South Africa is important for the following reasons:
- It will provide better understanding of the supply and demand for intermediate and professional level skills
- It will provide credible information to direct government resources at those skill areas where people are likely to get employment and thus tackle unemployment
- It could support government’s economic development strategy and target resources to education and skills areas in most need and thus tackle skills shortages
- It could improve South Africa’s competitiveness and support improved social cohesiveness, as well as contribute to poverty alleviation.
The LMIP has had a very productive 2014. As our research findings start emerging more rapidly, we are able to engage with our stakeholders in various forums. This research bulletin spotlights our research and activities. We would encourage you to engage with our work and with the LMIP researchers in the months ahead. Our website is a good resource of the latest research from the LMIP as well as a collection of ‘grey literature’ that we are sourcing from across the academic, research and skills development spectrum.
Vijay Reddy
LMIP Project Director
