As the use of AI accelerates in South Africa, thousands of young prospective employees in particular are at a disadvantage because they lack the basic skills in the field being demanded by employers.
While AI tools are making it easier than ever to start building software, analysing data or automating workflows, they are simultaneously raising expectations from employers prioritising candidates who can use these tools to accelerate productivity, said Riaz Moola, CEO of online education provider HyperionDev.
“Demand for digital and AI-related skills continues to rise with the World Economic Forum estimating that 44% of workers’ skills will need to change by 2027,” Moola said.
“AI is not replacing people. It is amplifying those who know how to use it. The risk is that those without access to the right training fall even further behind,” he said.
Though South Africa produces thousands of university graduates every year, far too few of them are equipped with the practical, job-ready skills that employers actually need in an AI-driven economy.
Data from the Centre for Development and Enterprise shows that nearly half of South African graduates are unemployed or underemployed within the first year of graduating.
AI is not replacing people. It is amplifying those who know how to use it. The risk is that those without access to the right training fall even further behind
“Degrees are no longer enough. Employers want proof. Can you build, can you solve problems, can you adapt? That’s what determines who gets hired today,” Moola said.
Young people are already bearing the brunt of South Africa’s chronic joblessness problem.
The latest quarterly labour force survey from Statistics South Africa, released in February, showed that youth unemployment (ages 15-34) remained high at 43.8% at the end of 2025. Overall unemployment in the country was 31.4%
A recent study by trade credit insurance and risk management company Coface found that the impact of AI on employment is beginning to emerge on the fringes in certain segments of the global labour market, particularly in entry-level roles in the most vulnerable sectors.
It said about one in eight occupations crosses the 30% threshold of automatable tasks, which the study identifies as a threshold for profound transformation of the profession, paving the way for potentially significant redeployment of staff without necessarily signifying its disappearance.
The most exposed professions are concentrated in fields that are highly cognitive and information-intensive, namely engineering, IT, administrative roles, finance, law and certain creative and analytical professions.
The least vulnerable occupations remain largely manual or involve human interactions that are difficult to standardise, such as manufacturing, construction, maintenance, transport, catering, cleaning and certain care and support activities.
Some of the tasks in jobs in care, education, sales and other people-facing professions are at risk, but their human dimension continues to act as a protective factor.
“The study also invites us to consider more broadly the value of education and the qualifications currently awarded at the end of various educational pathways. If some of the tasks, for which long courses of study prepare, become more easily automatable, the link between educational attainment, pay and job security could weaken,” Coface said.
“Without yet concluding that higher education is no longer necessary, these findings suggest that employers may place less emphasis on qualifications alone and instead focus on skills that remain complementary to AI, such as judgment, adaptability or the ability to oversee its use.”
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