The manufacturing sector in Nelson Mandela Bay is facing a technical skills shortage that is constraining the region’s ability to grow, attract investment and create jobs.

That is the key indicator emerging from the 2026 ‘Nelson Mandela Bay Manufacturing Skills Audit’ report, which reveals a widening disconnect between the skills available in the metro and those required by its manufacturing economy.

The findings point to a paradox at the heart of the region’s labour market – while unemployment remains high, manufacturers are repeatedly unable to find people with the specialised technical and practical skills required to operate, maintain and modernise increasingly sophisticated production environments.

Driven by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber (NMB BC), in partnership with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, the first-of-its-kind skills audit surveyed and assessed 55 manufacturing enterprises representing 12 662 employees across the bay area.

A by-product of the skills audit is the 2026 NMB Manufacturing Skills Barometer, which will act as the sector’s baseline against which future progress will be measured.

The barometer’s Hard-to-Fill Index baseline scored 30.4, classified as critical pressure.

Employers rated failed-recruitment-searches at 9 out of 10, while both difficulty-in- filling-positions and vacancy-duration scored 7.5 out of 10.

“These findings should concern all of us because they expose a fundamental disconnect in our economy,” says NMB BC CEO Denise van Huyssteen.

“We have a large pool of people, including graduates, who are actively searching for employment opportunities, while businesses are struggling to find the specialised skills they need.

“We cannot continue treating these as two separate problems. They are fundamentally connected and closing that gap must become an economic priority.

“Moreover, we have an unacceptably high unemployment rate of 33.1% in the metro, yet there are vacancies which take many months to be filled or they simply remain unfilled.”

The skills shortages are concentrated in occupations critical to the efficient operation and modernisation of manufacturing plants, says the chamber.

These include toolmakers, millwrights and multi-skilled artisans, injection and press setters, CNC programmers, instrumentation technicians, quality specialists, CMM programmers, frontline supervisors and IT/OT integration specialists.

The challenge is not simply the number of people available in the labour market, but the depth of competence required for increasingly technical manufacturing environments.

The skills audit report notes that the challenge extends beyond filling today’s vacancies.

Manufacturing is undergoing rapid technological advancement, with companies increasingly adopting automation, robotics, connected systems and data-driven production.

Yet 80.4% of companies surveyed report that their existing workforce lacks the foundational digital skills required to transition into new technology-enabled roles.

“This is not simply about whether a company can find a person to fill a vacancy,” says Van Huyssteen.

“It is about whether our workforce is equipped to support the manufacturing technologies that will define the next phase of industrial growth.”

The critical future skills identified include PLC and automation diagnostics, electro- mechanical multiskilling, MES/OEE configuration, advanced metrology and CMM programming, predictive maintenance, digital QA and LIMS/eBMR administration, digital process technicians and IT/OT integration specialists, as well as new-energy vehicle (NEV) and future mobility technical skills.

The report also highlights a significant challenge in terms of the youth pipeline into manufacturing.

While large numbers of young people enter development programmes, far fewer emerge with the competence and workplace experience required for sustainable technical employment.

Deficits in numeracy, English proficiency, digital literacy, practical workplace exposure and work readiness are compounded by transport and shift-work challenges.

These challenges affect youth retention, which is reported to be 17.8%.

In practice, this indicates that young people enter and exit the workplace, and that simply creating more entry-level opportunities will not, on its own, solve the problem.

For the chamber, the findings point to the need for a fundamental shift from fragmented training interventions towards an industry-led approach.

In response, the chamber is establishing an industry-led skills pathway agenda aimed at creating a much stronger connection between business, education and the labour market.

Proposed interventions include establishing an industry-higher education strategic skills advancement panel, a sector skills advisory panel, a centralised skills database to match technical talent with vacancies, and a structured knowledge bridge to transfer the expertise of retiring artisans and engineers to the next generation.

The agenda also proposes an adopt-a-technical-and- vocational-education-and-training-college lecturer immersion programme, a digital process technician pathway for unemployed youth, and accredited technical training in automation, networking and digital technologies.

Longer-term interventions include shared Industry 4.0 technical hubs and dedicated training in NEVs, battery technologies, hydrogen and other green skills.

At the heart of the strategy is a proposed Regional Manufacturing Skills Observatory (Observatory), which will build on the 2026 Barometer to provide ongoing intelligence on changing skills demand, digital readiness and emerging occupations.

The chamber views the Observatory as more than a data repository. It is intended to help align training with industry demand, inform funding decisions, support investment attraction and demonstrate that NMB is actively building the skills base required by modern manufacturing.

“The most important thing about this Barometer is that it gives us a starting point,” says Van Huyssteen.

“We now have evidence of where the gaps are, where the pressures are emerging and what industry believes it will need in the future. The next step is to use that intelligence to drive coordinated action,” she add.