South Africa is seeing no growth in terms of jobs advertised at startups in the country, while the average salary is falling.
Each year, jobs platform Adzuna analyses startup job activity in South Africa, with job numbers increasing in 2016 but decreasing at the beginning of the year. The bulk of skills demand has moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
In late 2017, little had changed in the startup world regarding skills. Adzuna analysed the more than 140,000 unique job listings on its website, finding the amount of startup jobs has remained steady at around 750.
Gauteng again leads the pack with 45 per cent of the positions listed, with the Western Cape accounting for around 35 per cent.
Salaries have, on average, decreased to ZAR334,000 (US$27,100) per year, lower than the ZAR355,000 (US$28,800) recorded in February 2017.
IT-related positions, mostly programmers and developers, top the mix of skills that startups look for. Most of the rest are sales and marketing type roles, with a smattering of administrative, financial and consultative skills sought.
“The data certainly points to a stagnation in startup activity during 2017, which is not necessarily either a positive or negative sign. Part of the reason could relate to the incredible difficulty in finding IT skills in South Africa nowadays and that many startup founders find skills in their network as opposed to hiring them for salaried roles,” said Adzuna South Africa country manager Jesse Green.
“It could also point to startups having moved into more solid company formats, or hiring through newer recruitment models such as OfferZen. Successful startup companies could also have matured and no longer see themselves as startups any longer.”
