The government is considering changes to its data collection systems to get a better idea of how many skilled South Africans are leaving the country.
While the Department of Home Affairs and Statistics South Africa keeps regular data on tourists and immigrants entering the country, it has historically not published information on the number of people emigrating.
“South Africa has struggled with skills scarcity in specific sectors and sub-sectors for many years as the result of various factors such as attrition to the private sector in health professions, emigration, and displacement of skills from manufacturing to finance,” the Department of Employment and Labour said in its National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) document published this week.
It added that the emigration of skilled South Africans has not been addressed efficiently through any specific policy, and constitutes a growing problem in certain sectors.
The department has now proposed the introduction of an ’emigration module’ into its labour force, community and census surveys to provide data on South Africans residing abroad for purposes of employment.
The updated data-tracking will also allow the government and public to have reliable, up-to-date data on flows and stocks of highly skilled South Africans employed abroad and on sectors and occupations particularly affected by attrition to emigration or remigration, it said.
“The emigration of South Africans for employment purposes has been a neglected area of state intervention. As a result, its mapping and data collection have been limited and inconsistent. Data available points to acute rates of emigration among specific, highly skilled occupations, and in some instances scarce skills.”
“There is also evidence of re-emigration of highly skilled foreign professionals from South Africa to other OECD countries pointing to challenges in their retention, particularly in the health sector,” it said.
