Online jobs aggregator Adzuna has published a new report on the most in-demand jobs in South Africa, showing that STEM skills are still in high demand in the local job market, and still offer some of the best opportunities.

To understand which jobs were highest in demand at the start of 2020, Adzuna compared the number of live vacancies with the number of unique searches for each skill.

The results indicate that there is a high demand for developers and financial management skills in the market right now.

“Although the data only analyses online job ads, we were able to draw a conclusive inference that South African companies are having a hard time finding and retaining rare tech and financial management skills,” said Adzuna country manager Jesse Green.

“By looking at the supply and demand for job skills, we have a better overall understanding of which jobs are the highest in demand and, in turn, offer the most rewarding salaries.”

Below are the 10 most in-demand jobs and how much they pay.

Job title Average salary 2019 Average salary 2020 Annual change (rands) Annual change (%) Surveyor R623 665 R583 242 -R40 423 -7% Mechanical engineer R572,578 R579 950 R7 372 1% Java developer R582 218 R569 669 -R12 549 -2% Software engineer R562 339 R561 925 -R414 0% Engineer R590 053 R561 064 -R28 989 -5% IT manager R533 876 R546 876 R13 000 2% Technologist R549 318 R544 017 -R5 301 -1% Pharmacist R606 851 R543 187 -R63 664 -12% Financial manager R529 870 R533 347 R3 477 1% Analyst R548 159 R518 638 -R29 521 -6%

“Even though the rareness factor of IT skills across some positions has dipped, the demand for technical skills is still high and the supply of experienced skills is still scarce,” Adzuna said.

“According to the latest findings, surveyors and mechanical engineers are currently earning the highest salaries in the country, with java developers taking home 3% less in annual earnings than they did in 2019.”

Read: How to fix South Africa’s unemployment crisis