Graduates support compulsory savings

Johannesburg - The majority of SA's graduate professionals are concerned about the low level of savings among consumers and support the idea of some form of compulsory preservation vehicle to foster a greater savings culture‚ according to the Professional Provident Society (PPS) survey.

The survey showed that 91% of those surveyed do not believe tax incentives by the government are sufficient to encourage South Africans to save.

The Professional Provident Society‚ which was established in 1941‚ said on Tuesday that its Graduate Professionals Confidence Index (PCI) was steady at 56% in the third and fourth quarter 2012‚ but down on the 60% level of the first quarter 2011.

SA suffered a series of blows to its confidence in 2012 such as the Marikana tragedy on August 16‚ and the subsequent downgrading of SA’s sovereign rating by the three major international ratings agencies‚ Moody’s‚ Standard and Poor’s‚ as well as Fitch.

That is in part why the less than half of the 6 000 graduates surveyed expect an improvement in SA’s unemployment over the next five years with a reading of 38% in the fourth quarter 2012 compared with 44% a year ago.

That is also reflected in the answer to the question as to whether the graduate will remain in SA for the foreseeable future‚ which dropped to 75% in the fourth quarter 2012 from 83% a year ago.

Confidence in the standard of education in SA dropped to 44% from 48% a year ago‚ while confidence in the economic outlook for SA over the next 12 months eased to 55% from 63% a year ago.

PPS undertook the survey to gain insight into the graduate professional segment in SA to ascertain their views on a number of issues.

SA continues to suffer from an acute skills shortage‚ particularly amongst skilled professions and through PPS’s niche target base of graduate professionals‚ the company is able to tap into and record the thoughts of this group.