In a recent landscape review of jobtech platforms in South Africa, the Jobtech Alliance discovered that the country leads both in the number of jobtech platforms and the number of users across Africa. As of 2021, an estimated 3.9 million gig workers were active in South Africa, indicating significant potential for jobtech platforms to provide employment opportunities, especially for the youth.

Despite these promising figures, there are still notable barriers hindering the entry of workers into the jobtech landscape. These challenges include the need for skills development and technical proficiency, initial setup capital, limited access to credit, concerns related to crime and social unrest, and a lack of information and social capital.

The report identifies several opportunities for jobtech platforms to address these challenges, not only enhancing their own functionalities but also benefiting the workers they engage. To explore these opportunities in detail, you can access the full report here.
* jobtech can be defined as the “use of technology to enable, facilitate, or improve the productivity of people to access and deliver quality work”