South Africa’s Next Labour Frontier: A Gig Economy And The Democratisation Of Digital Skills-Based Labour

A leading technology training and skills provider warns that South Africa’s (SA’s) job creation strategy must adapt or risk leaving millions behind in the global digital transformation opportunity boom. Industries across the globe are rapidly being digitised, evolving their labour requirements to allow for far more opportunities for young people to break into the digitalised world of work.

“SA’s young workforce are at risk of being left behind in this digital paradigm shift because of a stagnant labour force pipeline that has yet to adequately address the needs of the economy,” says Divesh Sooka, General Manager ALX South Africa. Committed to transforming Africa by developing two million digital leaders at a speed and scale never before seen, ALX equips young people between the ages of 18-34 in South Africa and across the continent with the in-demand technical skills and soft skills that will enable them to thrive in the digital economy. With its goal of providing young South Africans with an opportunity to build their careers in high-growth industries, ALX is urging those concerned with SA’s economic growth to prioritise creating better coordination between the education sector and the labour market to make the digital revolution a reality and not just a slogan

“Deepening inequality in South Africa means that most of the people who could be benefiting from opportunities are left in the dark. It is time that macroeconomic strategies tackle unemployment in South Africa and incorporate practical steps such as these to ensure that terms like Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are no longer just concepts but form part of concrete plans to end youth unemployment and allow talented young people to reach their full potential,” says Sooka.

Advancements in digital technology in the world of work have given rise to the gig economy and the breaking of traditions that have previously held people back – especially women – preventing them entering a number of tech industries. It is now possible for someone with only a matric qualification to become qualified to work in software development, robotics, data analytics and cloud computing within a year or two of completing high school.

Trends have shifted over the last few years; now, every single business must be digitalised and as such, must use some form of digital skills in its workforce, creating a boom in demand for high-end and entry-level digital technology skills.

Where is South Africa’s place in the new globalised labour market?

“Digital transformation opens opportunities for SA’s young people to become digital nomads, employed overseas while working in their home country. This is one way that we can lessen the brain-drain, taking skills and economic activities out of SA,” says Sooka.

ALX forms part of the African Leadership International (ALI) ecosystem and shares its vision for transforming the future of Africa by developing a new generation of adaptable digital leaders for the 21st century, giving them an opportunity to advance their careers, creating employment in the fastest-growing  industries and spurring large scale impact across the continent and around the world. Sooka adds that the 21st century’s greatest opportunity is Africa’s looming population boom; our abundant human capital contains the key to catalytic systems-change.

Innovative and demand-based education systems are born out of the urgency for African youth to break out of the government dependency cycle and rapidly forge their own career paths. According to the World Economic Forum, digital commerce is estimated to benefit at least 80 million young Africans by 2030, increasing opportunities for less traditional but far more widely available forms of employment.

With the help of institutions such as ALX, which recently acquired leading Silicon Valley coding institution Holberton School, young Africans may now take advantage of the demand for digital skills while contributing to their local economies by earning Dollars, Pounds and other foreign currencies with these technologies and spending them in their own countries. They are also able to share and use these skills to help uplift the communities around them.

SA is not bringing digital technology skills into the markets fast enough.

Tackling unemployment requires industry, government and the education sector to shorten the pipeline from the classroom to the workspace. Advancements in digital technology have made it easier for people to gain critical skills across various economic sectors without the need for traditional tertiary education, which normally takes years to complete and can cost hundreds of thousands of Rands per student.

In-demand digital technology skills enable young people to work remotely for local or overseas employees, creating opportunities to work part-time for multiple – or on a gig-to-gig basis, focusing on short-term projects. SA’s constrained, underskilled labour force which often finds it difficult to make the shift from low-skilled to high-skilled and specialised labour are largely unable to take full advantage of this new democratised labour market. One reason for this, suggests Sooka, is the lack of streamlining between industry and tertiary institutions when it comes to rolling out these skills, despite increased hunger to acquire these skills.

“Although society has given ample lip-service to the concept of digitalisation across industries and how best to capitalise on this trend to solve youth unemployment, it seems we reach a bottleneck in the system when it comes to making this idea operate as a system between government, industry and the education sector,” he argues.

Unequal access to basic digital technology amenities keeps millions locked out of opportunities

Further inequalities in access to technology training is being worsened by systemic challenges such a load shedding challenges. Many young people who are desperate to break into the digital labour force are being left out of opportunities because they lack alternatives to accessing power from the sporadically available national grid.

“Despite the numerous challenges, there are ample opportunities to operationalise the goal of upskilling young people and empowering them to be self-determined in their own careers,” concludes Sooka. Over and above the fully sponsored, internationally recognised technology programmes ALX is making available to South Africa’s youth in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, ALX will soon be rolling out learning hubs where many of SA’s inadequacies will be addressed, providing co-working spaces with high-speed internet where students can collaborate, learn and grow in a productive environment .