The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande will launch the key Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) research reports on skills needs for the economy.

The Minister committed in his 2023 Budget Vote speech to update the National List of Occupations in High Demand and to work on the identification of skills for the hydrogen economy project. The commitment was undertaken in the context of the major research programme on Labour Market Intelligence that the Department of Higher Education and Training had initiated and the strong association between labour market research and the identification of skills needed for the economy.

The Minister’s launch will therefore mark the completion of a number of research projects completed as part of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Labour Market Intelligence research programme with the support of the Department’s Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town.

The reports that will be launched are pivotal for understanding skills supply and demand in South Africa, and include:

• The Report on the Identification of skills needed for the hydrogen economy;
• The National List of Occupations in High Demand and the two provincial lists of occupations in high demand (Mpumalanga and Western Cape);
• The Identification of Skills Gaps in South Africa;
• The Post-School Education and Training Monitor report; and
• Fact Sheets to monitor the performance of the PSET system.