The SA economy is on a record growth streak. But current growth levels - let alone the ambitious targets some hope for - may be history if the skills shortage isn't addressed. Government's projections are sobering: today only about 700 registered engineers join the profession each year - the economy needs to get more than 11 000 new engineers into the system by 2010. 
This year, only 5 000 artisans will be taken into apprenticeship - the economy needs 12 500 each year. Countless other skills are also needed. Many in the private sector blame government for the skills shortage. Some of that is fair: the sector education & training authority (Seta) system set up by the Skills Development Act in 1998 has backfired.
Companies abandoned internal development efforts; and many Setas are corrupt and inefficient. Government has also had mixed results in transforming the higher education sector - reform has been radical, but delivery of skilled graduates has fallen short.But government is now taking action, motivated partly by the skills shortage in the public service.
City and town services are under threat from a lack of skilled financial managers and engineers; government's R400bn infrastructure plans for the next three years are in danger. Government's action is being taken under the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), a part of government's broader growth plan, the Accelerated & Shared Growth Initiative for SA (AsgiSA).
Jipsa has hauled together a team of high-powered business leaders and ministers to tackle the skills crisis on all fronts - from education reform to financial and engineering mentoring programmes in town councils. Crucially, solving the skills crisis must begin with education, from producing more maths and science matriculants through to engineering graduates. But there are other initiatives that can make a difference - and those can be done by the private sector.
The FM has identified four obvious areas where companies could be making a difference: training artisans; getting South Africans working abroad back into SA; bringing retirees into the workforce; and importing foreign skills. What follows shows that, generally, companies are doing surprisingly little. Many blame inaction on government red tape - fairly at times, but not always. Rather, companies are often beset by bloody-mindedness, ignorance about process, and an unwillingness to spend on skills . That does not apply to all; some companies are making a difference, proving it can be done.
