Business Times reports that as emigration by skilled South Africans rises, experts in the auditing and insurance sectors have warned that this will weaken the country’s skills base and reduce the pool of wealthy individuals, whose spending on goods and services supports many businesses.
Highly skilled and high net worth South Africans, including top executives of listed companies, are leaving the country for better-paying jobs and better lifestyle prospects as confidence in SA’s future declines. A survey released last week indicates that graduates are also planning on building a life elsewhere. The Social Research Foundation (SRF) reported that, based on a survey, about half of SA’s top earners and university graduates were considering emigration as people lost faith in the country’s future. According to the findings, out of 3,204 registered voters surveyed by the research group in July, 53% of university graduates and 43% of those who earned more than R20,000 a month might leave the country. Overall, 23% of those surveyed said they might look to live in another country. The number of those considering emigration “rises with social and economic status. People between the ages of 25 and 40 are the most likely age groups to be considering emigration,” the SRF noted. Imre Nagy, CEO of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, commented: “We’ve seen a sharp uptick in emigration. We’re closely monitoring this because it could mean we’re losing the next generation of auditors to other countries. Socioeconomic factors such as lack of safety and uncertainty about SA’s future are pushing them to look elsewhere.” Momentum Metropolitan CEO Hillie Meyer said that emigration had become one of his biggest worries as the loss of wealthy citizens and skilled professionals was putting pressure on an insurance and investment industry faced with a shrinking savings pool.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thabiso Mochiko at Business Times (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Brain drain of skilled auditors could ‘kill profession’, at Business Times (subscriber access only)
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