2025 CRITICAL
SKILLS SURVEY REPORT
Unlocking Economic Growth Through Global Talent:
Insights from the 2025 Critical Skills Survey
The survey, which is the most comprehensive of its kind among verified employers, reveals the extent of South Africa’s critical skills shortages, and the role that foreign nationals play in bridging these gaps.
The findings help inform Government’s National Critical Skills List, a key tool for attracting international talent to South Africa.
Skills shortages are intensifying, with 9 out of the top 10 critical areas showing increases of between 2 and 15 percentage points since 2024.
Respondents
0
including JSE-listed companies and large multinational groups
Top 10 MOST DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT OCCUPATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
KEY FINDINGS
A Growing Struggle to Recruit Locally
of organisations report difficulty in hiring critically skilled employees in South Africa (up from 79% in 2024).
0
%
The Trusted Employer Scheme
of TES-participating employers say the scheme significantly improves their ability to secure work visas for foreign hires.
0
%
Critical Skills List Delivers
of respondents indicate the National Critical Skills List caters for the talent needed for their operations (compared to 69% in 2024).
0
%
For every one highly skilled employee brought into the country, seven unskilled jobs are created.
Xpatweb Global Mobility Conference , 13 August 2025
