Human Capital Development as a Resolution for Bridging the Skills Gap in South Africa Amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Workforce Resilience

This paper aimed to bridge the skills gap in South Africa through human capital development. Human capital development was one of the key components that led to the success of the Asian Tigers in achieving the criteria of a developmental state. Asian Tigers refer to Asian Countries such as China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan that experienced very fast economic growth starting from the 1960s. This paper reveals that if there is an enhancement in the skills, knowledge, abilities, and experiences of individuals, the skills gap can be minimised. As of today, the paper revealed that South Africa faces a high unemployment rate amongst young people. This is mainly due to a mismatch of skills between the education and training offered by the higher education and the skills required by the labour industries of the day. For this paper, data is collected using a desktop research method, drawing on existing literature relevant to the phenomenon under investigation.