NBI release report on South Africa’s JET Programme outlining scale of job opportunities

• NBI has release a JET Skilling for Employment Programme’s (JET SEP) publication – “Powering Futures – The Green Skilling Opportunity.”
• The local, industry-endorsed and demand-led report outlines the scale of job opportunity in seven renewable and emerging green sectors, as prioritised in the JET Implementation Plan.

Key take-aways

1. Over the next 25 years, South Africa will require capacity in the region of 400,000 – 600,000 gross jobs to execute the energy transition.
2. For a just energy transition, the socio-economic context of skills development matters:
   1. skilling should aim to reach marginalised and vulnerable communities, particularly youth and women, in an inclusive manner;
   2. skilling should enable individuals to access sustainable job opportunities and equip them with the capabilities to navigate the workplace and the economy effectively; and
   3. skilling should position informal and township SMMEs to obtain the necessary technical capabilities, combined with enterprise development, to unlock transformative market opportunities.
3. The need (and opportunity) is also immediate, with 120,000 – 200,000 gross jobs expected to be created by 2030, based on the current project pipeline and demand. Of these jobs:
   1. 50% (59,000 – 99,000) are in the solar value chain;
   2. 44,000 –74,000 arise in the construction phase, but they are temporary and part-time;
   3. 9,500 – 15,900 are generated in manufacturing and assembly, based on current levels of local manufacturing and assembly;
   4. there will be a lot of demand for semi- to highly-skilled people: ~21,000 artisans, ~25,000 engineers and ~25,000 technicians. The greatest demand will be for ~72,000 low- to semi-skilled labourers (e.g. construction workers, cleaners, security guards, packers etc.);
   5. immediate hot spots are Gauteng and the northern Free State for the next two years (2025 – 2027), with growth in the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape closer to 2030.
4. The skilling system needs to deliver the skills demanded by the key value chains of the energy transition at an appropriate pace and scale. Some will be transferable to the green economy broadly.
5. The solution is not just a massive scale-up of training, but a fundamental and sustainable shift towards
   an agile, co-ordinated, place-based ecosystem approach to skilling.
6. An ecosystem approach calls for the active engagement of all social partners, optimised funding, strong institutional capacity, learner-centric pathways enabled by low-barrier technology, and a strong orchestrator.

Link to the full report HERE 

Author: Bryan Groenendaal